Star Wars Legacy Episode IV - The Siege
by MAllan921
Summary: The Vorn threat grows as the galaxy becomes more fractured. Obi-wan Shai, Ayvan Ezen, Lyssa Anota, and their fellow Jedi race towards the Ezen Temple on Bestine, knowing a large-scale attack is imminent. Lives will be lost. Others will be forever changed. The galaxy will be pushed further to war.


Legacy : Episode IV

The Siege

Over three hundred years has passed since the days of Luke Skywalker and end of the Great War…

Interstellar space at the regions surrounding the Bestine system.

The holographic map zoomed in on a location several parsecs away. Akiva. A jungle planet that once held an Imperial stronghold. One of Drake Ezen's Jedi Knights had recently encountered a Vorn warrior there. The Knight, named Jacen Shand, had barely escaped with his life, having fought the Vorn to a standstill. The New Republic military had intervened, driving off the Vorn with a squad of army troopers.

Farther away – Lothal. Noah Heldig and Gran Fortissal had been late reporting in from their mission to capture a fugitive on that world. Local authorities had issued an early report there had been some commotion at the local space port but nothing conclusive had been noted yet. Drake's Jedi had yet to contact him; an unusual scenario given the simplicity of their mission.

Then there was the report of what had happened on Scarif with Obi-wan Shai, Nash, and Victoria's Jedi, Grath Horne and Tallion Vereze. The group had been attacked by the Vorn on that planet as they were investigating Darth Syrik's lair. Grath had been confirmed dead by his padawan.

The Vorn were making their move. They weren't attacking planets outright as they had on Agara Prime, but instead opted for going after the Jedi directly.

Drake shut down the holographic stellar cartography projection. The lighting automatically raised in his quarters. The Jedi Master walked over to a control podium for the hologram system and keyed in a net code. He then turned to look towards an open area of his chambers, waiting patiently with his arms crossed in front of him.

A full-scale holographic image of Victoria Skywalker appeared in front of him.

"Master Ezen." Victoria's image greeted him.

"Master Skywalker." Drake greeted her in kind with a slight respectful bow.

"I assume you've been perusing the same information as I have?" Victoria's aged voice noted.

"I have." Drake answered flatly, he paced for a moment, looking down at the floor. "The Vorn are forwarding their plot. They're attacking our Jedi. Weakening us here and there."

"I feel every loss. You know I do, Drake." Victoria noted sincerely. "But they are cowards, trying to nip away at us."

"I fear they may be up to something much larger." Drake replied gravely. "I feel we must prepare for Informal Dissolution."

Victoria's hologram paused, turning her head slightly to stare back blankly at Grand Master Ezen.

"You would have us give up against the Vorn?" Victoria noted in some surprise.

"I'm saying we should plan ahead for the possibility." Drake clarified.

Victoria paused again, studying Drake's features. "You've seen something, haven't you?" Victoria asked. "Something I haven't?"

"A possibility." Drake answered. "A possible future."

"I haven't sensed anything but the Vorn's evil." She replied.

"Maybe because I'm more entwined in this than you." Drake countered. "You see the Vorn as a threat to be eradicated. My perspective is of my Order."

"My thoughts are always of my Order." Victoria stared back. "Our Order. The Jedi."

"I meant no disrespect. I was just noting our points of view are different and, thus, so it may be with our ability to see the future." Drake noted.

"I will not allow the Jedi to fall again, Drake." Victoria replied.

"Nor will I." Drake stared back. "But given recent events, the attacks on our people, I am going to put my Jedi on alert."

"I understand your concern, Drake." Victoria's tone evened out. "I am as concerned as you, believe me. I just don't want us to surrender the battle before it's been fought. The Vorn thrive on fear, and we must control our own fear to fight them."

"I'm not afraid of them, Victoria." Drake assured her. "I just don't want my children to die needlessly."

"You're referring to your Jedi?" Victoria's head turned slightly. "Or your son?"

"Not Ayvan." Drake took a deep breath. "I've seen glimpses of things more ominous in his future – but not death."

"Your son is an incredibly gifted Jedi." Victoria noted. "Until Obi-wan appeared I would have said he's more powerful than either of us."

"Me perhaps." Drake smirked.

"I am an old woman, Drake." Victoria offered bluntly. "And I'm not going to live forever."

"We must prepare our children, Victoria. They must be ready."

"Mine are." She replied surely. "And we can face this threat – and survive. Has Dane Ordos contacted you yet?"

"No, and that has me worried too." Drake answered. "He's two days out of Coruscant and should be here shortly."

Victoria remained silent in thought for a moment. "Do what you feel you must, Master Ezen." She finally spoke. "We must stand resolute against the Vorn. But, yes, we must plan for survival as well."

"May the force be with you Victoria." Drake bowed slightly.

"And with you, old friend." Victoria bowed in kind.

Her hologram flickered away, leaving Drake Ezen standing alone in his chambers. His brown robes flowed behind him as he walked out of his living quarters and into the passage beyond.

Nyoth Rok stood in the large hangar bay of the Ezen Temple. The hangar was filled mostly with Jedi starfighters, about ten in total, five shuttles, and the courier class starship standing before him. The ship was very similar to Darth Maul's _Scimitar_, with an elongated dagger-shaped bow, a large round crew module, and curved deflector panels.

Rok had been practically living in the hangar bay when his duties allowed it. The white-haired Therien Jedi Master was determined to dissect the ship that had belonged to Darth Syrik for clues as to the history, and future plans, of the Sith Knight. Syrik had killed Obi-wan Shai's parents and attacked a smuggler's ship, the _Triple Nova_, both in space at a spaceport on Clenestine. The return of the Sith had been extremely alarming, but recent events like the revelation of Prince Dakar as a dark side user and the appearance of the Vorn had made the shocking appearance of Syrik less imperative.

What a changed universe they lived in – Nyoth couldn't help but think. A few months earlier the galaxy had seemed so peaceful. Sure, there were problems in scattered systems but nothing like the appearance of so many dark force users in such a short period of time.

And rumor was Obi-wan hadn't killed Syrik. Rok had only just seen a report of how Obi-wan and two Skywalker Jedi had been attacked on Scarif while investigating Syrik's home there. And one of the two Skywalker Jedi had been killed!

The thought made Nyoth want to work harder. He had been over every inch of the Sith spacecraft only to turn up nothing. They had gleaned a few clues off the nav computer but that was it.

Drake Ezen walked across the hangar bay towards Nyoth. The white-haired Jedi, in a grey and white trim flight suit, stood with his arms on his hips stating up at the Sith vessel.

"Any luck in finding any new information?" Drake greeted his old friend.

"Nothing." Nyoth noted in reply. "I think we've gotten all we're going to get out of this one."

"You've heard about Grath Horne?" Drake asked Rok in a low tone, low enough not to be overheard in a busy hangar bay.

"Yeah, I heard." Nyoth answered plainly. "They were ambushed on Scarif?"

"By the Vorn and clone troopers, yes."

"Was your son there?"

"No." Drake exhaled. "He was on Corinth with Master Anota following up on the clone trooper investigation."

"Where are they now?" Nyoth looked to his friend in concern.

"On their way here. All of them." Drake answered. "They found what might have been a cloning facility on Vandor but there were no clones there. Obi-wan did encounter another Sith. He thinks it might have been Syrik."

"Darth Syrik?" Rok said in genuine surprise.

"Shai isn't sure it was really him, though. He was masked – and said he felt different somehow in the force. Shai thinks they might be trying to clone force-sensitives."

"Insanity!" Rok grunted.

Drake raised his left eyebrow slightly. "Well, if he's right this could present a greater danger beyond what we've seen."

"Well, at least they're together. Safety in numbers." Rok stated. "Also, the deck officer says we have a transport inbound. Anota's padawan is on her way here to meet up with her. It should be here soon."

"I was just talking to Victoria. She didn't mention that." Drake stated.

"Lady Skywalker is a busy woman." Rok noted.

Drake took a good look at the Infiltrator. He paced along its length, with Nyoth walking at his side.

"It's an impressive ship." Rok stated. "Cloaking device. Quad turbolasers. An extensive passive and active sensor array in the nose."

"That's probably how he tracked Obi-wan so well."

"Syrik killed the Shai's in short order." Rok breathed. "I'm amazed their son was able to overcome him."

"Obi-wan is an adept Jedi when he can focus." Drake stated.

"So, he's a Jedi now?" Rok pressed. "He still hasn't been given that designation – officially?"

Drake looked at his old friend for a moment, then back at the Infiltrator. "Just a habit. I don't know what else to call him."

Drake took another good look at the ship, then turned slowly towards Nyoth again.

"I want you to prepare all of our Jedi." Drake spoke to him with a seriousness that was easily apparent. "There's something coming, Nyoth. I don't know what it is. If it comes to it our people are to prepare for Informal Dissolution."

Rok was taken aback by the words. "Old friend… are you serious?"

"Only as a precaution." Drake answered. "I don't think the need will arise, but in the event that the conditions present themselves…."

"If I might be so bold….. I think recent events have probably made you a bit…. nervous." Rok noted to his old friend. "Look around. We'll be fine, Drake. Between us, the Skywalkers, and the Rykanes we can deal with whatever may occur."

"We're still nowhere near as strong as the Jedi when the Empire seized power – and look what happened to them." Drake noted. "When Anakin Skywalker sacked the Jedi Temple on Coruscant a lot of Jedi died needlessly – defending a building. Rather than run and live to fight on better terms on another day they remained. For what? That building remains today. One that's filled with ghosts?"

"You had a vision of this?" Rok asked.

Drake took a breath. "No. Just fire and death. Nothing certain."

Nyoth placed a reassuring hand on Drake's shoulder. "I will make sure our Jedi are ready, Master."

Drake looked back at his old friend and nodded. Nyoth knew Drake better than most and it was comforting to have his allegiance.

The sound of repulsor engines grew behind them. Nyoth Rok and Drake Ezen turned around towards the wide bright opening of the hangar bay to the outside. A T-88 transport came into view from the glow of sunlight outside. The small tri-finned transport hovered over the active hangar deck towards an open area not far from Ezen and Rok. The two Jedi Masters walked towards the T-88 as it hovered still over the grey metal deck and lowered to land.

A hiss of steam accompanied the opening of the shuttle's rear hatch. A humanoid form appeared in the mist. As she walked down the ramp her features became clearer. Grey and brown Jedi tunic with a sienna robe. Her head was shaved down to what looked like blonde stubble; her natural hair color. Blue eyes looked out at the Jedi Masters as the young human female walked towards them.

"Greetings Master Ezen." She said with a bow. "I am Myria Kyle. Master Skywalker sent me here to meet my new master."

"Padawan Kyle." Drake bowed to her respectfully. "Welcome to Bestine and our Order. This is Master Nyoth Rok, a council member here."

"Welcome." Rok bowed to her, with Kyle responding in kind.

"Your Master is en route here." Drake explained.

"We can show you to temporary quarters where you can wait until she arrives." Rok added.

"Thank you, Masters." Kyle nodded in response.

Nyoth Rok grabbed his red and white colored flight jacket from a nearby workstation and put the garment on. He then hurried to catch up with Drake to escort Kyle out of the hangar bay.

_The Ward _rocketed through the swirling glow of hyperspace with the _Oberon _and the _Khopesh _not far behind. Lieutenant Nash Corino of the New Republic Military sat in the pilot seat of the_ Ward_. Tallion Vereze, a Vurk Jedi padawan, sat in the copilot seat. His master, Grath Horne, had been killed by the Vorn on the group's journey to Scarif, leaving Tallion grouped with Obi-wan Shai and Nash until he could get back home to the Skywalker Temple on Tatooine. Obi-wan Shai, the young nineteen-year-old humanoid trained by his parents as a Jedi, sat in the flight engineer station behind Nash. Still wearing his worn blue and white vest-like tunic, brown sacks, and boots, Obi-wan listened to the open com at his seat, as did everyone in the cockpit of the _Ward._

The _Khopesh, _a pristine YT-2400 copy of the _Outrider_, flew cover behind the group. The aged wealthy adventurer, Cain Alistair, piloted the vessel. His assistant, Khyrus Janus, sat in the copilot seat. Kyrus, a Pau'an, wore a brushed silver and white plate armor beneath his loose robes, including a silver and white mask. The plate coverings protected him not just from physical harm, but from ordinary light that could potentially harm him due to t a genetic ailment.

Ayvan Ezen, Lysaa Anota, and the blue protocol droid Em sat similarly in the cockpit of Lyssa's vessel, _The Oberon._ Em was plugged into a port in the engineer station just behind Ayvan, who sat in the copilot seat as Lyssa flew her ship.

"Em's been parsing through the data you recovered from Syrik's lair on Scarif." Ayvan noted aloud over the open com between the ships.

"This is all fascinating." Em noted in his electric tone voice. "Lots of maps and data but no exact plans that I've found yet."

"I would doubt Syrik would leave anything they were plotting on a database," Lyssa said, "even one secure in his home."

"At least it gives us some information on things they were looking at.' Ayvan stated.

"Maybe we should gather up some Jedi and try to go back to Scarif and retake Syrik's manor?" Obi-wan wondered aloud.

"We can go back with New Republic troopers too." Nash added. "There's a Naval Station not far from our route."

"I don't know if I want to take this to the New Republic yet." Ayvan observed.

"We're going to have to inform them of this, Ayvan." Nash replied, apparent a bit in his agitation. "The Vorn threat involves everyone in the galaxy."

"Nash is right." Lyssa added. "We should take it to them."

"From what I gather from my sources, the New Republic Military is eager to pursue all these leads, but the government itself is wary." Cain offered over the com. "The internal tensions in the senate are becoming more frequent. And some are even questioning their trust in the Jedi."

"This same argument again." Lyssa noted bitterly.

"I'm not even sure going back to Scarif is a priority." Tallion argued. "What would we accomplish there in taking back Syrik's home? We probably got all we're going to get out of his computer. Obi-wan said it was destroyed."

"Well, that does make sense." Nash nodded. "But we still need to keep my people informed. This is no longer just a Jedi matter now."

"The Vorn are focused on controlling the force by eliminating all others who can use it." Ayvan countered. "I get the sense they'll keep the fight focused on us, at least for now."

"You can't guarantee that." Nash argued. "And the Vorn have already led to serious instability. Look at Agara Prime! What happens when they bring their Star Destroyers to Corellia? Or New Alderaan? Or Coruscant?"

"Do they even have that kind of power?" Obi-wan asked with some disbelief. "I mean, how many Star Destroyers do you think they have?"

"Aside from the clone tanks, we didn't see much on Vandor." Nash added.

"Master Shai," Em interjected, "from what I've seen the Vorn may have been here much longer than anyone anticipated. Syrik's files show a significant salvage and material collection operation operating for what looks like decades. Based on my calculation of these material quantities they add up to the possible fabrication of up to seventeen Star Destroyers like what were reported over Agara Prime. And this is just one databank."

"Who's making all these ships?" Nash exhaled in disbelief.

"Hopefully I can determine some of that, Lieutenant Corino." Em noted over the com. "It will take some time. The encryption on these files is considerable… but not insurmountable."

"The cruisers my contact detected leaving Vandor had a significant energy signature. Possibly destroyers." Cain noted. "Everything I see points to them headed towards the Bestine System."

Ayvan let out a deep breath of worry. "We need to get home as fast as we can." He said in a low tone.

All three vessels continued through the swirling glowing corridor of hyperspace. At best speed they were still a good distance from Bestine, and the possible grave threat ahead.

Myria Kyle walked around the common area garden of her temporary quarters. It was an ovoid space open to the city at one side, allowing bright sunlight in to warm the hanging vines and subtropical trees of the garden. The back of five surrounding living units adjoined the garden. In the center was a round circle with several puck-shaped concrete benches, used by Jedi for rest or meditation. The flowers in the garden were beautiful. A pair of violet songbirds sat on the concrete edge of the surrounding balcony to the outside. They tweeted an odd melody before flying off into the urban sky over Bennit Val. Myria wasn't sure how long it would take Master Anota to arrive on Bestine to meet up with her. It could have been a few hours or a few days. Secretly, Myria hoped it would be the latter. Though she was discouraged from thinking such thoughts, the Ezen Temple on Bennit Val was far nicer and more inviting than the Skywalker Temple on Tatooine. There was real warmth and moisture – and rain! She could see rain falling from dark storm clouds over a hillside in the distance.

"It's quite a view." Nyoth Rok said from behind her.

Lyssa turned to see the middle-aged Therien Master, still in his red and white jacket.

"We get storms like that late in the day this time of year coming in from the plain." Nyoth pointed to the storm clouds.

"It's beautiful." Myria said in her young voice. "Tatooine is so…."

"Dry?" Nyoth smirked.

"I didn't want to sound like…." Myria noted shyly.

"No, don't worry yourself." Nyoth smirked. "I see it a lot from Skywalkers when they come here. Even, I might say, from Lady Skywalker herself."

Myria couldn't help but chuckle slightly. "Master Skywalker IS the desert!" Myria straightened herself immediately, fearing her own verbal slip. "I… mean that in the most complimentary way of course."

"No, you're right." Nyoth again barely restrained a breath of a laugh. "I think she'd even take that as a compliment." Nyoth paced towards the balcony before turning to face Myria. "Master Skywalker sent a holo-image of you ahead of time. You used to have purple hair?"

"I shaved it off." Myria said flatly. "Master Skywalker said Master Anota was a bit more… reserved. Besides…. My hair doesn't define me."

"No, I didn't mean it at all like that." Nyoth replied. "It's just unexpected."

Myria turned the right side of her face towards Nyoth, giving him a good view of two violet studs in her upper ear lobe. "Instead of the traditional Padawan braid I went with this."

"I noticed. Master Navarre from the Shin-zek period had something similar."

Myria's face brightened a bit. "That's exactly where I got the idea."

"You apprenticed with Tangar Ebas I understand?" Rok added.

"He was my master prior to this, yes." Myria replied.

"Terrible thing, sickness. Even with all we can do as Jedi we cannot make ourselves immune from typical ailments." Nyoth noted.

"He's a strong man. I'm sure he'll pull though." Myria smirked.

"Denaket's Disease is no joke, especially for a Jedi." Rok continued. He paused noting Myria's kind of somber mood on the subject. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be rude."

"It's okay." Myria replied warmly. "It's why I'm here, right? Master Skywalker wanted me to be placed with a new master as quickly as possible. No disrespect to Master Ebas, but I am looking forward to being Master Anota's apprentice."

"Master Anota has gained quite the reputation." Rok stated, looking out over the balcony. "I wish the apprentices I see now could become Jedi under more accommodating times, like when I matured. The events recently, with the Vorn and Prince Dakar…."

"It's unfortunate." Myria replied calmly. "But this is why we are Jedi, is it not?"

"Yes." Nyoth turned to look at her again. "But I'd rather be a Jedi at a time of peace, delving deeper into the force with meditation and self-reflection – than fighting battles. As long as Jedi have existed, we've too often been…. distracted…. by the evil forces around us. I often wish we had more time, more serenity, to get to understand the light better."

"It's a bitter understanding to know we don't always get what we want." Myria noted plainly.

"No, we never do." Nyoth calmly agreed. "That's fairly wise from someone so young."

"It's Lady Skywalker." Myria grinned. "She instructed us as younglings."

Nyoth grinned. "That sounds like her. Power without wisdom is a dangerous thing. She taught you early on." Nyoth paused, looking around the garden. "Are you comfortable in your living accommodations?"

"Yes, thank you."

"Well, use the com system if you need anything. Don't hesitate to ask." Nyoth noted to her in a more serious, less familiar, tone. "We will let you know when your master arrives."

"Thank you." Myria nodded. "One thing though…. Would it be okay if I walk around a bit? Look around your temple? It's very beautiful here."

"Of course! For a Jedi Padawan there shouldn't be many restricted areas here but if you wander into one I imagine someone will inform you quickly." Nyoth explained. "Directories are set in most corridor junctions. There's also quite a few protocol droids and astromechs roaming the halls that can help you."

"Thank you Master Rok." Myria bowed again.

"May the force be with you, Myria Kyle." Nyoth nodded in kind before walking away.

Myria watched the aged Jedi walk away before turning her attention back to the garden. It was quite a comfortable spot. The young padawan turned to walk towards her quarters, thinking she would get a bite to eat before she set off exploring the temple.

Ayvan Ezen sat in the copilot seat of the _Oberon_, watching the swirling blue white light of hyperspace ahead. Em sat behind him, still plugged into the ship's computer as he continued working on deciphering the data taken from Darth Syrik's home. Ayvan's mind was deep in thought, envisioning possible scenarios ahead. It was all a jumble, with vague flashes of premonition mixed with his own random thoughts. It was difficult for him to separate feelings from insight. He wished he could calm himself better. Taking a deep breath, he tried to relax, to free his mind of thought and allow himself to see through the force.

A warning alarm beeped on the flight deck console. Ayvan was instantly jarred back into the moment.

"This can't be." Lyssa said as she piloted the ship, looking at her instrument panel in front of her.

"_Oberon_, are you reading this?" Nash's voice came over the com.

There was a sudden flash of light ahead. The _Oberon_ lurched violently in a yaw to starboard. Lyssa grabbed the flight controls and pulled hard to correct, but her strength was to no avail. The hyperspace corridor ahead was gone, with the _Oberon_, the _Ward, _and the _Khopesh_ all wrenched back into normal space. The three vehicles tumbled ahead randomly, all trying to get back to a standard flight pattern.

The star field ahead of the ships spun wildly ahead of their field of vision. Lyssa pulled the _Oberon _into a rolling bank, finally leveling the ship. They weren't at Bestine yet. As they corrected course the cause of the incident became clear. A massive grey ship with four large orbs fixed into an arrowhead shaped capital ship came into view. It was different than its predecessors, clearly modernized, but it was clear what it was and that it had pulled them from hyperspace.

It was an Interdictor Star Destroyer.

"You seeing this?" Nash asked into the com.

"Defensive positions!" Cain's voice responded. "They're launching fighters!"

"We need to get past this and back on track to Bestine!" Lyssa added. "One of us needs to warn the Jedi!"

"Here they come!" Nash grimaced, seeing the two dozen blips on his targeting display.

"I'm on my way back." Obi-wan ran back from the flight deck to the turbolaser gun well.

The _Oberon, Ward, _and the _Khopesh _broke away in separate directions in evasive maneuvers. Green turbolasers from the oncoming black Raptor fighters flashed around the ships as they raced off in different directions. The two dozen Raptor fighters broke away in groups, with two or three trailing each ship while other's jumped for high cover.

Nash banked the _Ward _hard to the right, faster than the inertial dampers could compensate for. Outside, green turbolaser rounds flashed by beneath the _Ward._ Obi-wan had to reach out to grab the gun well ladder to stop himself from falling over. He hurried up the stainless ladder rungs and jumped into the floating chair. A Raptor streaked by overhead as he got his turret moving.

The Interdictor Destroyer loomed ahead, massively close.

Obi-wan blasted one Raptor away, then swung his turret to port to blast through another.

"Yeah, it's a lot better having a Jedi back there." Nash muttered to himself as he flew the _Ward _away from a group of detonating turbolaser bolts. Tallion nodded beside him in agreement.

A Raptor swooped in unexpectedly behind the _Ward_, only to explode moments after. The _Oberon_ swooped past their aft section, turning away from another group of pursuing Raptos.

The _Khopesh_ evaded a missile, then another, as Khyrus manned the turbolaser turret, striking the chasing Raptor. Cain turned his ship towards the Interdictor, firing a volley of proton torpedoes at the starboard lateral seam of the ship. The glowing white torpedoes impacted into the hull of the Interdictor – and two turbolaser cannons, sending the weapon blasting apart in flames. The _Khopesh _skimmed the grey metal plate surface of the Destroyer to evade its turbolasers, banking left, then right, past a sensor tower and the turbolasers flying towards it from the two Raptors chasing from behind.

Ayvan blasted a Raptor ahead of the _Oberon_. The _Ward_ blasted a Raptor turning in to chase the fleeing _Oberon. _

The three Raptors chasing the _Khopesh_ became six, then seven as one flew in high. The upper turret blasted the closest chasing Raptor, fired into another that turned away, then blasted a third into an explosion of hurtling debris. The pursuit seemed more than the swift light freighter could bear. The pursuing Raptors scored a hit on the _Khopesh's _topside shield. Three more blasts rocked the ship as a Raptor high to the rear fired two concussion missiles. The missiles hit the top of the YT-2400, destroying it in a series of chained explosions.

"Cain's been destroyed!" Nash yelled out.

"Worry about getting away first!" Tallion shouted back.

"I've got an opening bearing two one seven." Lyssa noted. "Lots of radio interference off that thing!"

"Rear mortars!" Nash shouted back to Obi-wan as a pursuing Raptor struck their shielding.

"We haven't rearmed them since Scarif!" Obi-wan yelled in return, turning his turbolaser to brush off a Raptor with red plasma fire.

"We need a diversion." Lyssa noted, turning the _Oberon_ towards the topside of the Interdictor.

"What're you doing?" Ayvan shouted.

"Trust me." Lyssa noted. "It's either we die this way or another way."

"That's not reassuring!" Ayvan said, firing back to fend off another Raptor.

Lyssa steered the _Oberon_ towards a sensor array in the middle of the four gravity well projector spheres of the massive destroyer. From her hand controls she got a lock on the sensors and squeezed her fire triggers. Two ion missiles flashed out from the front of the _Oberon,_ striking the array. With the array energized with ions, Lyssa fired a pair of concussion missiles. The array exploded ahead as the _Oberon _whisked by. Energized parts of the destroyed sensor array flew up, smashing into one of the Raptors to cause it to slam in fiery slag into the Interdictor's hull. Two other Raptors were damaged by the energized debris but kept up pursuit.

"I got coordinates!" Lyssa yelled as the _Oberon_ soared past the Destroyer's main engines. "Transmitting!"

"They'll know where we're going!" Nash complained.

"They already know where we're going!" Lyssa countered.

Nash saw the coordinates Lyssa broadcasted sent directly to his nav computer. Obi-wan blasted away one last Raptor before the _Ward _shot forward into hyperspace.

The _Oberon_ soon followed, with the stars streaking into glowing lines ahead of Lyssa's cockpit.

The _Envoy Star _flew at cruising speed down from the outer atmosphere of Bestine. Visibility was great with a bright blue sky as the corvette descended though a thick white cloud. The city of Bennit Val stood ahead once the ship broke through the cloud cover. The man-made rivers formed the iconic concentric rings of the city. The massive trapezoidal government tower loomed in the middle of the ring city, with the tall multi-cylindrical towers of the Ezen Jedi Temple next to it. A large open landing area at the Jedi temple was set at its rear, with space enough for three or so ships the size of the _Envoy Star _to land.

The corvette descended towards the city, cautiously avoiding the airspeeder traffic at its perimeter. The path of the _Envoy Star _had it flying on a route over the large waterfall at the edge of the city plateau, with the surrounding forest of the valley below.

Myria Kyle walked in the main garden of the Ezen Temple. It was said the garden was a favorite spot for Grand Master Ezen to think and meditate. It was indeed beautiful, with the yaroah trees in bloom with white blossoms. The short green grass looked like it could have been transplanted as a whole from the plains of New Alderaan. Beyond the edge of the large garden was a wide opening to the daylight sky over the cityscape beyond.

A bipedal droid was tending to a thicket near a reflecting pond, trimming down its branches. A small trickling waterfall ran to Myria's right, with water cascading down a somewhat artistic reddish brown rock wall. Ahead of her was a wide concrete deck, with steps leading back to a pair of turbolift doors situated in a shaded area.

A Jedi humanoid male in traditional robes spotted Myria and paused in stride. He was fair skinned with dark hair. He turned a warm smile as he noticed Myria.

"Hello." The Jedi male said.

"Hello." Myria nodded in kind.

"I'm not disturbing you, am I?" The male Jedi noted, walking towards her.

"Not at all." Myria replied. "I just had some free time and someone suggested I visit here."

"Where are you from?"

"Tatooine."

"Skywalker, huh?" the male Jedi asked. "I've never got to go there yet. My old master…."

A dark from appeared from behind a group of bushes, veiled in the shadows behind the young Jedi. Its dark black metal arms appeared first, coming together at its right shoulder, which also came into view. It was holding a lightsaber handle up to its right.

Myria had no time to react. The red blade ignited, then cut in a flat arc through the neck of the Jedi, severing his head. Myria's right hand covered her mouth as sheer terror gripped her. The lifeless body of the Jedi fell to the ground.

The Sith drone came into fill view. It looked like the old study holograms she had seen of Grevious, only the drone was black, with a broad black helmet and narrow angular face that resembled Darth Vader. She was gripped with fear as it fully emerged into view, moving with a slow menacing pace. Clearly, it knew she was there – and it seemed to relish in her terror.

Don't allow your fear to bind you. She remembered Master Ebas' words. And she knew she would surely die if she didn't mount a defense. Myria Kyle pulled her lightsaber handle from her belt and held it up confidently in a ready position. Its blue blade shrieked to life in her grasp.

The drone charged. Myria charged in kind, ducking a flat swing for her head while cutting though the side of the drone, spinning to cut off the drone's head in a reverse swing. The drone's head fell away from its body, but the rest of the machine remained upright to fight. It backed away, swinging its red blade in an upward slash to fend Myria off. The sight of the headless machine, still fighting, was frightening in and of itself as well. Myria took a step back to regain her composure, then jumped forward to attack the machine again. She traded a pair of high strikes with the headless drone, stopped its red blade at her left side, then chopped down with her blue blade through its body.

Finally destroyed, the remains of the drone fell to the ground. Myria cautiously took a step closer to study the remains of the drone. She had heard stories of these new death machines from others at the Skywalker Order and her master, but it was different seeing one up close.

A shriek of a saber blade touched her ears a breath after she felt the threat with the force. Myria spun, activating her blue blade again to crack away the red blade meant for her back.

Another drone stood before her. Myria's left hand flew forward on reflex, throwing the drone back several meters with the force. The invisible blow caused the white yaroah blossoms to begin falling from the trees. The drone got to its feet quickly, also adopting a ready stance with its red saber. Rather than charge, though, the drone raised its right arm. The components of the drone's right arm adjusted, revealing a blaster cannon from between its down turned wrist.

The drone's cannon fired staccato rounds at Myria. Her blue blade expertly deflected several rounds before she leapt high into the air, assisted by the force. Her foot landed on a cross brace at the atrium ceiling about six meters up. She pushed off on her foot into a flip, launching herself and her still active blue blade over the back of the drone.

Myria tried to make a quick end of it, cutting out hard for the drone's right side as she landed behind it. The drone blocked with its red saber, deflecting several more swings from the young female padawan, leaping over her blade as it swept for its legs, cutting down hard for her head only to bind with her blue blade as she blocked. Myria held the red bade back above her head, the heat from the locked blades baking her skin. It was remarkably strong, with a human-like feel to the drone's physical movement. Pushing back on its red blade with her own lightsaber felt like sparing a living being.

Myria shoved the drone back, using some assistance with the force, trading two more high energized strikes with the drone. She chopped its right arm off, which was holding its saber, then cut down through its body.

The second drone fell to the ground, destroyed. Myria held her blue saber ahead of her for a moment in pause, scanning the area around her to make sure there were no more. She could tell there was a growing threat around her through the force, but nothing immediately near her. That wouldn't last. She knew that. This was not an isolated attack. The Sith were going after the temple.

Myria's blue blade shinked as it vanished back into her saber handle.

She ran out of the garden towards the turbolifts. She needed to find an alarm to warn the others in the temple.

Drake Ezen walked out into the daylight outside the Ezen Temple, down a short series of wide steps leading down to the outdoor landing area. The _Envoy Star's _massive form was coming into view, turning along a descending path over the nearby lake to slowly float down towards the Jedi temple. Dane Ordos was on board and as his equal rank of Grand Master it was customary for Drake to greet his arrival. Three other Jedi, including Nyoth Rok, walked with Drake out onto the landing area. Around them there was a moderate amount of activity. A pair of light freighters to their left were delivering supplies to the temple. A Jedi Delta fighter was parked not far to their right, with a maintenance crew working on the vessel's port engine.

"Kind of odd they haven't said much over the coms." Nyoth noted to his friend, Drake. "Master Ordos usually contacts you directly after coming out of hyperspace."

"The pilot said he was indisposed." Drake replied calmly.

"I don't know, Drake." Nyoth took a breath. "I have a bad feeling about this."

The _Envoy Star _settled its massive weight down on the deck of the landing zone. Vents on the large corvette's underside vented coolant as it settled. An elongated ramp extended from the port side, reaching out through the light mist floating by to settle on the deck.

Drake, Nyoth, and their two flanking Jedi stopped at the end of the boarding ramp to wait. They expected Dane Ordos and his contingent of Rykane Jedi to emerge promptly but for a while – nothing.

There was a whirring sound. Nyoth noticed the turbolasers on the underside of the _Envoy Star _had turned towards them. An alarm klaxon began to sound at the same time from within the Jedi Temple.

"RUN!" Nyoth shoved Drake aside and vanished in a blur of speed as the turbolasers opened fire. The world around the Jedi Master exploded in a fiery wrath.

A dozen Vorn warriors ran down the ramp with several Sith drones. A great many more leaped from the top of the corvette to attack. The Vorn and Sith drone lightsaber blades seared to life as they charged.

Every Jedi in the area stopped what they were doing and reached for their own weapons, answering the surprise attack by igniting their own sabers to face the onslaught. Blades clashed amid the smoke, with the Jedi suddenly in a fever pitch battle with the Vorn and the black drones. A Jedi angled away a pair of swings before being cut through the midsection. A green saber blade cut off a Vorn arm. Sith drones fired at the Jedi as they hurried for cover.

Nyoth Rok chopped off a drone's right blaster arm with his blue lightsaber, then cut off its head. He deflected several swings from the next drone only to cut through it.

"DRAKE!" Rok shouted amidst the smoke and chaos.

An amber blade roared past Rok and he turned away. His own blue blade went up to stop a devastating swing from a Vorn. He finally was face to face with one, peering at him across their interlocked blades, its white serrated teeth grinning in vile satisfaction. Rok let his blade slip, allowing the Vorn's amber blade to miss him. Rok's blue blade swing hard for the Vorn's right shoulder, only to be blocked. Two more times their blades clashed before Nyoth tagged the Vorn in the shoulder.

The Vorn responded by hurling Nyoth back with the force; his body impacting int a metal cargo container. Nyoth was dazed from the impact. He looked up to see the Vorn rushing him, amber saber ready to strike.

A green lightsaber blade lanced out, piercing the attacking Vorn through the bicep. It howled in pain, spinning to swing on the new attacked.

Drake Ezen, with his green lightsaber, traded several quick strikes with the Vorn that had attacked Rok. The Jedi Master's green blade angled away a swing, then flashed through the Vorn's neck to sever its head.

With the Vorn dead, Drake hurried Rok to helped him off the ground.

"Come on, my friend. We must stop them." Drake said to him.

Nyoth stared at Drake for a half-second, marveling how the Jedi Grand Master could be so calm at such a time. His head clear, Nyoth Rok followed Drake Ezen out into the battle.

A number of silver flashes appeared in the blue sky well beyond Bennit Val. It was a single flash, followed by two more, then four and five more in fast succession.

They were a squadron of black Vorn Raptor fighters. The deadly hawk-shaped starfighters organized quickly into attack formation. They covered the mountainous environment surrounding the city quickly at full throttle, breaking into two groups once at the city perimeter. They closed to firing distance unopposed, though much of the airspeeder traffic broke away at the sight of them.

The Raptors each fired a number or proton torpedoes, both at the Ezen Temple and the nearby Government Tower.

The torpedoes exploded viciously into both structures, escalating the fight and casualties. The Raptors soared away, taking a route to circle back for another attack run.

_The Ward _and _The Oberon_ exited hyperspace as close to Bestine as fortune would allow. They entered the atmosphere hard, with the sudden presence of air instead of the vacuum of space rocking both ships. Nash took an aggressive angle down, flying the _Ward _through a long sloping steep curve. The _Oberon, _piloted by Lyssa, flew a pursuing route.

"Capital ship ahead." Nash said, leveling out the _Ward._

"How did they get this close?" Obi-wan shouted in his spot at the gun turret.

"They somehow caught the Republic and the Jedi off guard." Nash replied. "That's the only reason I can think of."

Ahead of both ships was the growing arrowhead shape of a Vorn Star Destroyer. Its three large circular engines faced the _Ward _and the _Oberon _as they closed from behind.

"It's launched its fighters." Ayvan stated.

"They don't seem to see us. Let's slow them down a bit." Lyssa stated, turning the _Oberon _on an angle towards the back of the destroyer ahead.

The _Oberon _flew over the top starboard side of the Vorn destroyer first, followed closely by the _Ward. _Both vessels fired their turbolasers at close range into the hull of the massive ship. A trail of explosive strikes followed, with a fuel cell and a turbolaser batter exploding behind both transports as they soared on ahead.

The Vorn destroyer fired its own volley of heavy turbolaser rounds after both craft but the_ Ward _and _Oberon _evaded the green blasts swiftly. Bennit Val loomed ahead in the distance, with smoke already rising high into the air from the attacks on the Jedi Temple and government tower.

More Raptors appeared from behind the _Ward _and _Oberon_, firing a fury of green turbolaser blasts behind them.

"We've got to get to the ground fast!" Nash grumbled.

"I'm not sure it's any better down there." Lyssa smirked.

The _Ward _banked and slowed, with Obi-wan shooting down a raptor fighter, then another, in quick succession.

"Throw down the throttle! We'll keep them off you!" Nash said, banking the _Ward _again hard to escape a concussion missile.

"Get low to the ground. Maybe we can evade them and use the terrain to our advantage." Lyssa said, turning her ship steeply down to get as low as possible.

"That's great! I'm not a Jedi though!" Nash countered, trying to follow her down, only to have a turbolaser round slam into the _Ward's _aft shields.

Obi-wan fired on the Raptor that had shot at them but missed, only succeeding in making the black winged fighter break off its attack.

The city was growing quickly ahead. Both the _Oberon _and _Ward _were already soaring over the residential outskirts beyond the outer ring of waterways.

"We're going to be landing a little hot." Nash winced.

"These fighters are starting to pile on." Ayvan fired through another Raptor, only to have two more show up on his targeting computer.

"We'll have to deal with that problem when….."

A burst of turbolaser rounds destroyed two of the Raptors chasing the _Ward _and _Oberon_, then a third fighter exploded.

"What was that?" Nash interrupted himself, looking at his short-range scanner.

"I can keep them off of you while you land." Cain Alistair's voice noted back over the com. "Just get down there quick."

"You sly old man!" Nash smirked, tilting his head slightly at the surprise.

"Mind the wisecracks, Lieutenant! I just saved your life." Cain joked back.

The three ships, breaking into evasive maneuvers over the city, blasted away a few more chasing Raptors, causing the other fighters to break off.

"What was it? Holoprojector? Cloaking device?" Nash asked aloud to Cain, wondering how the _Khopesh_ had survived destruction.

"A little bit of everything." Cain answered. "A man of my experience and lifestyle does not travel unprepared, Lieutenant. They can't see my cloak. I can fly cover while you land."

"What are we going to do when we get down there?" Obi-wan asked, seeing the ominous sight of the burning Jedi Temple and Government Tower ahead.

"Find my father and save as many Jedi as we can." Ayvan stated plainly.

Lyssa let Ayvan's words linger for a breath. She knew he was right. "This doesn't look good. I'm not sure we have much time."

The _Oberon _and _Ward _raced on towards the Jedi temple, circling to land as the _Khopesh_ took up high guard. Khyrus, in the _Khopesh's_ gun turret, blasted a chasing Raptor from behind. The black enemy ship tumbled through the sky in a trail of smoke, exploding into the river as the _Khopesh_ soared back to the sky above.

A pair of Raptors raced into the landing area as the _Khopesh_ flew upward. A trail of staccato green turbolaser blasts chased after the _Ward _and _Oberon_. While Obi-wan was able to strike one of the diving Raptors, both enemy fighters were able to score a number of hits, with the _Oberon_ sustaining a brunt of the assault.

The flight controls immediately became difficult to control in Lyssa's hands. Her ship, already in landing mode, yawed left and pitched right, spinning with a trail of smoke billowing from its port main engine thruster.

"I'm losing her!" Lyssa yelled into her com.

"Nash! Set the _Ward_ down a safe distance away from us!" Ayvan shouted into his headset, trying to see through the heavy smoke outside his gun turret.

The _Oberon_ fell hard on its landing gear, skipping over the concrete deck to soar another twenty meters or so to land hard again on its underside. One of its four landing gear snapped off from the impact, leaving the _Oberon _to slide another fifteen or so meters to slam hard into a transport.

Lyssa picked herself up off her flight console and ran out of the cockpit. Em was already ahead of her, running for any exit. Ayvan hurried down the gun well ladder with a small cut on his forehead, likely from the crash.

"Are you okay?" Lyssa asked Ayvan upon seeing him.

"I'm fine."

"I think we landed with clearance for the main ramp to drop." Lyssa noted hurriedly, leading the trio to the exit. "We need to get out before those fighters circle around and finish us off!"

Outside, the _Ward _landed safely on the concrete deck, far enough from the _Oberon_ to maintain a safe distance – in the event it exploded. Obi-wan could see another two Raptor fighters heading towards them. The Raptors had barely any time to close on their attack run when a stream of red turbolaster blasts ripped them to pieces from left to right.

The _Khopesh_ soared past, obvious as the vessel that had saved them.

Obi-wan let out a sigh of relief as he saw the underside ramp of the _Oberon _open and spot Ayvan, Lyssa, and Em crawl out. Obi-wan unlatched his own restraints to hurry to exit the _Ward _himself.

"Well, anyone you can walk away from." Lyssa glanced over her shoulder at her ship as they ran away from it.

A pair of missiles screamed into the area, slamming into the _Oberon _to detonate the ship into a fireball. Lyssa, Ayvan, and Em were nearly thrown off their feet by the explosion.

"Damn it! No!" Lyssa growled at the sight of her destroyed ship.

"Let's get inside, Master Anota." Em urged her to follow.

"The droid is right." Nash added as he, Tallion, and Obi-wan ran to meet them. "We're badly exposed out here."

"Let's get inside and see how many lives we can save." Obi-wan added.

Ayvan nodded at Nash, Tallion, and Obi-wan. "Good to see you guys."

Obi-wan nodded back. "Likewise, cousin."

"No New Republic troops or fighters in the air." Nash looked over at the Government Tower some distance away next to the temple. "They must have been hit pretty hard too."

"Are there any other Republic forces in the area?" Ayvan asked Nash as the whole group started running towards the steps at the entry to the temple.

"There was a Mon Calamari attack cruiser in the area." Nash answered, drawing his pistol.

"If they weren't destroyed." Tallion added. "This is a surprise attack. I'm sure the Vorn took them into account."

The group reached the steps leading up to the interior of the Ezen temple. Ayvan turned and looked at the _Envoy Star_, still looming massively nearby. He could see several Vorn and Sith drones running down the corvette's main personnel ramp.

And at the top, standing next to the broad opening of the ship, was a Vorn with dark black skin and dark robes. The dark Vorn seemed to be surveying the battle as his apparent subordinates rushed to join the battle. The sight of the dark form at the top of the corvette ramp vanished as a heavy smoke cloud covered the area.

Ayvan turned back towards his friends and ran after them to hurry inside the temple he knew for so long as home.

Drake Ezen deflected several blaster rounds from a Sith drone, closing the distance to the dark droid while angling his green blade. The drone threw up its own red blade in defense, clashing sabers with Drake before the Master Jedi broke through its defense and cut it to pieces.

The Grand Master looked down in the dark beyond his glowing green blade, allowing the faint light around him to show him what he already knew to be there; bodies of other Jedi – his Jedi! A Twi'Lek named Bandrir. A female humanoid Kera Noor and her padawan, a Mirialan male named Yeris, laying not far away – also killed. Drake walked past them into the dim council chamber. There was no one inside, only seven empty seats around a central circular marble floor.

Nyoth Rok hurried into the council chamber, his blue blade humming at his side.

"Master Ezen!" Rok called out upon seeing his Grand Master. "They're broken through at level four! Troop transports incoming on the courtyard level!"

"Signal withdrawal." Drake noted to him indirectly.

"But Master Ezen…." Rok began to protest.

"SIGNAL WITHDRAWAL!" Drake shouted back. "There's been enough dead today and our numbers are dwindling."

"We can stop them, Master!" Rok countered.

"The Vorn are hitting us and the Republic with overwhelming force, and we have no idea of how vast their resources are – now signal withdrawal!" Drake approached one of the council chairs and entered in a sequence into one of the armrest terminals. "We'll follow rendezvous protocols of Informal Dissolution." Drake then looked up directly at Rok. "Now go!"

"Yes Master." Nyoth shut down his blade and turned to hurry off.

"Nyoth." Drake shouted after him.

Rok stopped in his tracks and looked back over his shoulder at Drake.

"May the force be with you." Drake noted sincerely.

"May the force be with you… and us all, Master." Nyoth nodded. He turned away again to hurry off.

Drake Ezen moved to the center of the council chamber. A holographic image of Victoria Skywalker flickered into resolution in front of him.

"Victoria. They're here." Drake said in a grim calm to Lady Skywalker's image.

"What's the situation?" Skywalker's image asked.

"Probably half of my Jedi killed. I'm not sure on injuries." Drake explained calmly. "I've initiated Informal Dissolution of my order. You know the plan. I would suggest that you considerer your own options, Lady Skywalker, especially after the threats you've received."

"I already have, Master Ezen." Victoria noted. "I hope to see you and as many of your Order as possible. We'll discuss reorganization then."

"May the force be with you." Drake bowed to her image.

"Be careful, Drake." Victoria replied with some hint of worry, bowing slightly herself. "May the force be with you."

Victoria Skywalker's image flickered away and vanished from sight. Drake turned to leave the room but after a few steps stopped in his tracks. He could sense someone was there. He pulled out his lightsaber handle and waited silently.

It took only a few moments for the Vorn to reveal himself. Its ornate crimson and gold trim armor appeared faintly in the dim light. The pale grey skin over its exposed forearms, clawed lower legs, and angular demonic face were darker in the shadows.

A few feet away another similarly uniformed Vorn appeared, then a third. From between them all was a tall cloaked black figure, also a Vorn from the looks of his long angular ears.

Drake knew who the cloaked figure was immediately. It was Darth Edos.

"Master Ezen." Edos' slitted amber eyes stared out at him from the dark.

"Darth Edos." Drake greeted him in kind.

"I'm here to give you one last opportunity…. to surrender." Edos stated from between his gleaming serrated white teeth.

"I've seen what you want, Edos." Drake stared back defiantly. "Subjugation and death. I will not allow myself or my Jedi to walk that path."

"You understand the alternative?" Edos asked grimly.

"Every Jedi does." Drake replied harshly, igniting his green lightsaber blade.

Edos visibly smiled. "Then the time for discussion is at an end."

The three armored Vorn ignited their amber lightsaber blades.

All three Vorn charged Drake Ezen simultaneously.

Outside a group of five troop landing ships descended from the sky. Two of the elongated freighters landed on the elevated courtyard of the Jedi temple on the fourth level, pressing their heavy landing gear into the manicured grounds. Ramps fell swiftly, with hundreds of olive drab armored troopers rushing out. The clone troopers fired their blaster rifles out ahead of them as they rushed the Jedi encountering them on the grounds.

A similar scene occurred at the main landing area, where fighting was still sporadic. Three troop freighters landed on the small spaceport to enclose and flank the area, sending hundreds more clone troopers rushing into battle.

Other landing craft surrounded the government tower, where Republic military troopers rushed outside to defend the attack. Tan and black armored Republic troopers clashed with the green Vorn units, exchanging fired in several access points of the building.

X-wings, about five of them, soared by overhead, but were quickly destroyed by the swift black Raptor fighters. The Republic, it seemed, had been caught more off-guard than the Jedi.

A group of heavy troop carriers swooped down overhead. Each carried four colossal armored troopers like the ones that attacked Agramyek. The shock troopers, well over seven feet tall, were dropped from an altitude of a few hundred feet over the battle zones, landing on repulsorlifts to slow their fall before their heavy feet slammed into the ground upon landing. The giant metal shock troopers lumbered forward, each raising the heavy repeating blaster rifles fixed into their right forearms to attack.

Myria Kyle finally found her way out of a smoking corridor, stepping into a wide bridge junction. Olive drab clone troopers appeared in force around her. She was already weary of fighting for so long but brushed those feelings aside and again activated her blue lightsaber blade.

Myria angled her blade swiftly, deflecting blaster fire as fast as the force allowed her. She pushed back part of the clone trooper unit with the force, then charged the others.

Another group of lightsaber blades could be heard. Myria saw they were friendly. Nyoth Rok's blue blade and those of two other Jedi chopped through the clone trooper ranks. One of the Ezen Jedi was shot a few times by blaster rifle fire and killed. A Sith drone leapt out from an adjoining passage to attack Rok. Myria sliced up through a clone trooper, then deflected a blaster bolt back into another. Rok was kicked back by the drone. The other Jedi rushed in to attack the black drone, clashing lightsabers with it several times before the Jedi was cut down. Nyoth threw a clone trooper into the drone with the force, knocking it off balance, then charged himself with his blue lightsaber blade. His blue blade shrieked against the drone's red saber three times, blocked a high chop, then cut through its body, finishing it.

Myria finished off the last two clone troopers. When it was over only her and Nyoth Rok remained, their humming lightsabers in hand, as they stood over the dead.

"We need to get to a ship." Rok noted to Myria. "As fate would have it your master has arrived."

"Master Anota?" Myria thought aloud.

"Her ship was reported destroyed but I think she made it out. There's reports of other Jedi too."

"We have to help them!" Myria stated.

"We must run! Master Ezen has ordered it." Rok said, his tone hinting at reluctance.

"Do you know where Master Anota is? Or Master Ezen?" Myria said in concern.

"I don't know. It's chaos!" Nyoth spat. "Let's head down towards the starfighter level. Maybe we can find a means of escape there. Do you know how to fly a starfighter?"

"Yes, but…. we should stay and fight." Myria protested.

"I agree. Master Ezen wants us to survive though. He's ordered withdrawal."

Myria nodded reluctantly. "Yes, Master Rok."

Nyoth and Myria ran, hurrying towards whatever escape they could find.

The Jedi Council chambers were calm as Ayvan ran in, his deactivated saber in his right hand. He spotted the first dead Vorn in front of him on the floor; its head severed. Another a few meters away ay slumped behind one of the chairs. It was also dead and missing its left hand. A third dead Vorn lay on the elevated platform at the top of a short group of steps at the back.

In the middle of the floor lay the familiar sight of his father, in his off-white and brown robes. Drake's long black hair obscured his face. He appeared dead at first yet tried to, weakly, pick himself up off the floor.

Ayvan's heart sank. "NO!" he rushed to his father's side, trying to help him up.

Ayvan only succeeded in turning his father over, to see the extent of Drake's injuries as he cradled his upper torso in his arms. Drake's weak crystal red eyes looked up to find his son's.

"I held out… as long as I… could." Drake labored to breathe.

"NO!" Ayvan shouted. "I'll get you out of here!"

"I am beyond help, my son." Drake said in a single breath. He raised his blood-stained right hand with great effort to touch the side of his son's face again. "I knew… I would see you… again." Drake took a few labored breaths, turning his red eyes down briefly. "Ayvan. I love you, son." Drake looked again into his son's eyes. "The force will be with you… always…"

As Ayvan held his father, Drake's body became light – ethereal. Soon it was without form and intangible, vanishing into the force with his last breath.

Ayvan was left with nothing to hold but his father's empty robes. Still kneeling, Ayvan grasped on to the empty brown cloak and white tunic, sobbing.

Nash blasted a clone trooper in the chest. He held fire on another group as Lyssa charged with her violet saber. Obi-wan was not far behind to back her up. Lyssa and Obi-wan cut through a number of the clone troopers before a group of Vorn and a shock trooper entered the hall.

"Damn it! I hoped those things wouldn't show up!" Nash grumbled at the sight of the giant power armor troopers. With Em standing behind him, Nash adjusted the power output on his blaster pistol and took aim on the giant shock troopers. Concentrated red blasts cracked out of Nash's pistol at a slower rate.

The blasts hit the shock trooper in the chest and shoulder, rocking it with heavy explosive hits. The blasts, however, only served to stagger it. The giant metal trooper raised its gun arm at Nash and Em.

"Time to run…" Nash pushed Em down the passage as heavy blaster rounds from the shock trooper fired into the wall behind them.

Tallion, with his blue saber activated, was about to charge the shock trooper when he noticed a group of Jedi Padawan, and a youngling or two, not far away through the smoke. Tallion raced towards the young Jedi. The shock troop took aim on Tallion and fired a missile from its wrist. Tallion seemed to spin at the last moment, perhaps to project a barrier with the force, when the missile detonated.

Obi-wan was already running towards the shock trooper that fired on Tallion. He chopped horizontally through a clone trooper as he ran, sliding to a stop in front of the shock troop, cutting its right leg off with his blue blade. The metal trooper toppled behind Obi-wan as a Vorn chopped down at him. Obi-wan's threw his blue blade up to block, locking his saber with the Vorn's in a crackle of energy.

Lyssa was fighting another Vorn in a frantic lightsaber duel.

More blasts. "Watch out!" Nash yelled, accompanied by blaster fire, his into several clone troops, then a Vorn.

An explosion threw Obi-wan off his feet, slamming him into a wall. He got up just in time as a shock troop sent a backhand at him, with the vibrocoils on the armored beast's left arm crackling with violet energy. Obi-wan deflected the blow partially with his saber but was beaten away over the side railing of a balcony. Obi-wan landed hard on the floor a few feet below.

The world seemed to go dark for a moment for Obi-wan, perhaps from being close to losing consciousness. He could faintly hear blasters and explosions, the humming and clashing of lightsaber blades, people yelling. The young Jedi turned to lay on his back, exhausted.

"Get up, Obi-wan." A very familiar female voice spoke to him.

"I can't…. It's… too much…" Obi-wan exhaled.

"Get up, Obi-wan." His mother's voice said to him through the force. "People still need you!"

Obi-wan gathered a breath. Laura Shai's voice seemed to reinvigorate him. The young light brown haired Jedi got to his feet quickly, activating his blue blade and angling it up just as a Vorn was about to cut him down. He angled away several more strikes from the Vorn, then spun away from a swing to cut its head off. He ran through another Vorn behind it, lancing it through the chest. Obi-wan then cut through three more clone troopers, unstoppable as he ran up the short group of steps back up to the level he had been thrown from.

Once at the upper level mezzanine he saw that Lyssa had been joined in the fight by two more Jedi; Nyoth Rok and a young Jedi female with shaved blonde hair. They were finishing off what was left of the force that had attacked them. Rok lanced the shock trooper. Myria cut down across a Vorn. Lyssa cut off the remaining Vorn's arm and tagged its shoulder with her violet blade, causing it to run off in retreat.

With the enemy pushed off temporarily they were able to regroup and paused for a breath. Lightsabers were shut down and damage was assessed.

"Is everyone okay?" Obi-wan asked.

"Good here." Nash answered, looking at the powder blue droid next to him. "Em, you good?"

"I'm okay sir, thank you." Em's electric voice answered.

Obi-wan raised his com to his mouth. "Tallion, you there?"

A chilling period of silence followed before Tallion answered.

"I'm fine. That thing packs a wallop!" Tallion answered. There was a brief pause on the line, with a sound like falling rubble in the background. "The blast collapsed a lot of the passage here. I can't get back to you. I have a group of padawans here. I'll try and find another way out."

"Copy that." Obi-wan replied into the com. "Be careful!"

"I guess we're as good as we can be." Lyssa noted, looking at the group.

"Obi-wan Shai." Nyoth nodded at the young humanoid. "It's good to see you again. Where's Ayvan?"

"We were separated." Obi-wan answered.

"You must be Master Anota?" Myria extended her hand to the Master Jedi. "Myria Kyle. I'm your new apprentice."

"It's an honor to meet you, Padawan." Lyssa shook her hand. "I only wish we could have met under better circumstances."

"This is…. kind of odd, Master." Myria noted to Lyssa. "I expected some sort of evaluation or trial."

"There's no trial like real life." Lyssa raised an eyebrow sideways in jest at her new apprentice.

"We need to get moving." Nash griped. "Anyone know where Ayvan is?"

"I haven't seen him." Nyoth answered.

"What about Drake?" Lyssa added.

"He was in the council chambers last I saw him." Rok replied gravely. "He's issued an order to retreat. I think he foresaw all this."

"We should stay and fight!" Lyssa bit back. "That's why we rushed here!"

"There's no winning this fight, Lyssa." Rok countered. "Master Ezen is right. It's time to leave. We'll regroup at the rendezvous coordinates."

Ayvan Ezen remained on his knees in the center of the dark council chamber. He continued to weep as he clutched his father's empty robe. What was he without his father? Drake had made him what he was; beyond being a Jedi but as a living being. The memories of childhood flooded back. Happy times when the hardships of life were unknown to a young boy of five. Of birthdays and toys and games. Watching holovid plays. Memories of him with his father and his mother. The thought of Drake dying reopened the old wounds of Drake's mother's passing. She had been beautiful, and his parents were the ideal parents he would envision in any scenario.

And now Ayvan was alone. What would become of him? It was said a being doesn't come into its own until the day they survive beyond their parents. Now the future was an unknown.

This is what Obi-wan felt – Avyan realized. For Obi-wan too was alone in the world much the same way.

Ayvan sensed the beings as they entered the dark chamber behind him. He sensed the cold first, then their living presence. The fear – Ayvan found himself embracing it. Drawing from it in his tears until it became something else. Ayvan invited it!

"Zashad. I thought Edos finished off the Ankarian." One of the Vorn noted to the other in the darkness.

"He did." The other Vorn, Zashad, replied. "This….

The Vorn drew closer. Ayvan remained buried in grief holding his father's robe against his face. As he heard the Vorn speak, a faint well of rage began to grow within him.

"This is someone else." Zashad noted.

"Another Ankarian?" the subordinate Vorn replied.

Ayvan pressed his face harder into the empty robes, trying to smother his own grief and anger.

"It doesn't matter." Zashad ignited his amber blade. "He seems ready to die. Let's help him along."

The second Vorn ignited his amber blade as well with a shriek of enery.

Ayvan's eyes finally shot up from the robe. Instead of the ruby red within white eyes of the Ankarian species, Ayvan's eyes burned also with a glowing amber of rage. It grew within him like a flame, engulfing everything he was.

Ayvan shot up to his feet and spun around, yelling in rage as he threw his right hand out towards Zashad. Without practice in the art, lightning streamed viciously from Ayvan's hand, crackling all around the Vorn's armored body. The lightning seared and cracked in terrifying retribution over Zashad's agonizing form. The massive seven-foot-tall Vorn fell to his knees, screaming in pain.

The second Vorn rushed to attack but Ayvan gripped him through the force. The subordinate Vorn ceased moving. Ayvan, with all the fury of his broken heart, held the Vorn aloft. Its body raised slightly from the floor to levitate. Its amber lightsaber fell loose from its grasp, deactivating once free pf its grip. Ayvan squeezed through the force, fueled by a rage that was unrelenting. He wanted the Vorn to suffer – he wished it agony! The dark side continued to burn in the fury of Ayvan's amber and red gaze. The floating Vorn, feeling its extremities constricting, held pure terror in his eyes as Ayvan glared back at him. There was a snap. The Vorn screamed as its left arm was broken near the shoulder.

Ayvan's teeth gritted in rage.

The Vorn's upper leg bone snapped. It screamed louder!

Zashad, still burning in pain on the ground from the force lighting, watched the other Vorn suffer. Ayvan's grip was merciless. His fist clenched harder. The Vorn's ribs snapped.

Then, like the sound of a thick ancient tree branch breaking, the subordinate Vorn's neck snapped. Ayvan took a breath, opening the fingers of his right hand. The Vorn's dead body collapsed to the floor.

Ayvan had but a moment to breathe and collect his thoughts. He almost broke free of the rage when he turned to look at Zashad.

Zashad screamed in the fury of a battle cry, again energizing his amber lightsaber blade as he charged Ayvan.

Ayvan's green blade shrieked to life in his hand, swinging out hard to his upper left to stop Zashad's blade. The Vorn chopped down for Ayvan's head, still looking into the Jedi's burning amber eyes. Ayvan blocked with his green blade, then again at his right, stopped a hard swing for his chest.

Ayvan, consumed by the power of the dark side, was unrelenting. Zashad chopped again and again at the Jedi in vain, unable to break his defense as their duel took them up to an elevated section of the council chamber. Ayvan missed the Vorn's neck by centimeters with a flashing swing of his green blade. Zashad sliced hard upward, missing the Jedi as he flipped backwards. Ayvan turned away from a downward chop, missing the Vorn with a counter swing that the tall demon ducked. Their amber and green blades clashed in a fury of angled blocks and swings, ending with Ayvan binding Zashad's blade in front of him. The energized blades squelched off each other briefly when Ayvan flipped the amber saber free of Zashad's grasp. Ayvan followed with a flash of movement, a thrust, piercing the Vorn cleanly through the chest.

Ayvan held his glowing green blade through the Vorn's chest in his right hand while bracing him on his right shoulder with his left hand. Ayvan's face was up close to Zashad's; the Jedi's eyes still burning with the dark side.

"Today is the day you die!" Ayvan sneered at Zashad, pulling his green blade from his chest. In a flash of movement, the green saber arced, flew out in a swing from left to right, severing Zashad's head.

The Vorn's head rolled off its body as the lifeless body collapsed.

Ayvan stood before Zashad's fallen remains, still holding his humming green saber out to his right side at the end of the killing stroke. The Jedi's breathing steadied. Rationality returned. His eyes faded from amber to the normal ruby red.

What had he done? Ayvan looked down at the two dead Vorn, feeling both satisfaction and disappointment with himself. Ayvan had never been tempted by the dark side – and here he had crossed over. His own malice scared him.

Taking a deep breath, Ayvan finally shut down his green lightsaber.

"I'm sorry, father." Ayvan said faintly.

There was nothing left in the council chamber for him. Ayvan hurried away down the corridor to locate his friends, for he knew they needed him.

A group of five Jedi fled into the main hangar bay. They appeared to be three, possibly four, padawans and one Master. They had fought their way into the hangar, lightsabers angling away blaster fire from the clone troopers.

Sith drones and two Vorn warriors attacked them from their flanks. The Jedi were nearly overwhelmed, with one padawan offering a brief defense before the Vorn attacking him cut him down. Blasters fired everywhere. An airspeeder was hit and exploded. A padawan jumped through the flames, launching himself at a Vorn attacking his friend.

Three shock troopers broke through a nearby wall to charge into the hangar bay, along with three units of clone troopers. The combined forces were intent on killing off any remaining Jedi in the temple. The surviving padawans and the master Jedi ahead of them were their next targets.

Obi-wan was the first to rush in to help the other Jedi, along with two other Ezen Jedi that followed him into the hangar. Obi-wan launched himself through the air at the nearest shock trooper, landing on it as it turned to face him. Obi-wan grasped onto its shoulder, lancing his blue lightsaber blade into the thick armor. The humming blue blade pierced the heavy shoulder section of the shock trooper but did nothing to stop it. The shock troop threw Obi-wan to the ground, who angled his blade up as he landed to stop a crushing downward blow from the giant trooper.

Lyssa, Nyoth, and Myria charged the clone troopers with Nash firing his blaster into the same enemy forces. Nash shot two troopers down before being forced to rush for the cover of a nearby fighter. He pulled Em down with him as the droid seemed unsure of what to do in the face of heavy blaster fire.

Two more Jedi rushed in to help, both dark haired humanoids in grey and black garb wielding green lightsaber blades. The duo seemed extremely skilled, with the female cutting off the head of a shock trooper in short order, then leaping into a fight with a Vorn.

As Ayvan entered the hangar he noticed something he didn't expect to see. One of the dark haired grey garbed Jedi threw a stream of force lightning across the attacking squads of clone troopers. Eight clone troopers were burned by the crackling blue light to fall to the ground in agonizing pain. Even two of the Jedi padawan were paused by the fearful sight of Sith powers being used nearby.

Obi-wan traded several lightsaber strikes with a Sith drone, cutting it down from its right shoulder to its waist. Nash fired at one of the Vorn, which angled away four of his blasts only to be struck by the three that followed.

Within moments the hangar was cleared of threats, with a padawan dispatching a Sith drone with her green blade and the last Vorn staggering off clutching a severed arm.

Ayvan rushed towards the group as they formed up. The padawans and the master among them, a Wequay as he was seen up close, seemed to defer to Ayvan in their attention.

"Master Ezen." The Wequay noted in basic. "The word had been given to withdraw. We were going to take control of those fighters over there." The Wequay pointed to several Jedi starfighters in the end of the hangar bay.

"Should we stay and fight, Master?" a padawan aksed Ayvan.

"Where is the Grand Master?" a female padawan asked.

Ayvan took a breath in thought before answering, taking a moment to glance at Nyoth. Nyoth knew from the look what had happened.

"My father is dead." Ayvan exhaled. "He passed on to the force in my arms."

"I'm so sorry, Ayvan." Lyssa touched his shoulder gently.

"We can grieve another time." Ayvan offered her a brief yet sincerely thankful smirk. His attention then turned to the padawans and the other Jedi in general. "Get to those fighters. You know where we'll regroup. Don't approach the rendezvous until you're sure you've escaped any pursuers."

"Yes Master." The Wequay nodded before turning to the padawans.

"Sir, there aren't enough fighters." One of the younger Jedi Knights said to Ayvan.

Ayvan looked at the Jedi Knight. He was young for a Jedi yet no longer a padawan. With

standard Jedi garb and slicked back light brown hair, Ayvan recognized him as Turk Nalvoy. His

dark-haired twin brother was Meric Nalvoy.

"If it's okay we'd like to go with you." Turk spoke for him and his brother. "The padawans will

have a better chance in the fighters."

Ayvan nodded in agreement. "Okay. Good to see you boys safe."

"Likewise Master." Meric replied for them both.

"Let's go." The Wequay, Endar Chan, said leading the padawans off.

The group of Jedi rushed off across the hangar bay – except for the grey garbed Jedi male and female with dark hair. They remained a few feet away, waiting for the inevitable conversation to come.

"I know you!" Ayvan stared at the grey Jedi. "A man named Temin Andos showed me a security video of you on one of his ships."

The grey Jedi said nothing in response.

"You're not a part of our Order." Ayvan stared at the strange Jedi, waiting for answers.

"By the force!" Nyoth exhaled in astonishment. "You're Fourth Order, aren't you?"

"Yes, The…." Ayvan began.

"The Children of Ahsoka." The humanoid male Jedi spoke finally. "My name is Idris Reahl. This is my apprentice, Karei Nhogatta."

"I thought you were myth!" Lyssa noted in astonishment.

"We're very real, Master Anota." Reahl looked at her. "We came here as fast as we could to help. We followed a group of Vorn and their hired mercenaries to D'Qar. We got there too late as they ambushed and killed Antar Kedu and Valeris Hahn."

"Rykanes!" Lyssa noted aloud.

"Yes." Karei confirmed. "We also found evidence that they were planning an attack on the Rykane delegation on the _Envoy Star_."

"Why come out now?" Nyoth asked the Ahsoka Jedi. "Why not reveal yourselves earlier to us?"

"Because, Master Rok, we don't consider ourselves Jedi." Reahl responded in a somewhat stern tone.

"That force lightning." Obi-wan pointed out. "Their presence in the force. Even their appearance. You can tell. They're Greys."

"We also have a fairly strict belief in staying out of sight." Karei added.

"People are fearful of us. Jedi. Sith. Grey. It makes no difference." Idris added. "Once people witness our power there's always a part of them that fears us."

"I hate to be that guy, again," Nash interjected, "but, seriously, this isn't the time to be debating philosophy! We need to leave!"

"Nash is right." Nyoth noted.

"My ship is outside the hangar bay. Hopefully it can still fly." Ayvan stated.

"The _Ward_ isn't big enough to carry all these people." Nash noted, raising his wrist com to his mouth. "Cain, you read me?"

A brief moment passed before Cain Alistair's voice replied. "As well as I'm able."

"Good! You're not dead!" Nash smirked. "We have survivors here. Can you meet us for extraction at the _Ward_?"

"Should be no problem." Cain answered. "These Vorn fighters can't get around my cloak and countermeasures but I don't expect that will last long."

"We're on our way out." Nash said into the comlink. "Keep an eye out for us."

"Will do. Cain out."

The com line shut off.

"Let's get out of here. I sense the Vorn and their forces are regrouping." Ayvan noted.

"Okay." Obi-wan seemed to speak for the group as they all followed Nyoth out of the hangar bay. Eleven beings in total walked towards the wide-open blast doors of the hangar; Obi-wan, Ayvan, Nash, Em, Nyoth, Turk, Meric, Lyssa, Myria, Idris Reahl, and Karei Nhogatta.

Over his shoulder, Ayvan spotted the six Jedi starfighters taking off with those they had helped moments ago. The Wequay master aside, the padawans looked to be children flying machines of war. One of the female padawans seemed to meet Ayvan's gaze from above before steering her fighter out of the open hangar.

As Ayvan watched the fighters race into the open sky, he found himself feeling a greater sense of hope. Not all had perished – and hopefully there would be more survivors.

"Are you sure there are no more Jedi in the temple, Em?" Nyoth asked the powder blue protocol droid.

"I was able to uplink with the protocol." Em explained. "The only life forms I'm able to detect in the building are Vorn and the clone troopers. Both give off distinct readings to the temple's security systems."

"Then the only remaining Jedi here…." Lyssa began.

"Are us." Nyoth finished her sentence as the group ran out of the hangar into daylight.

"Tallion was still in there!" Obi-wan exclaimed in dread, raising his com to his mouth. "Tallion! Are you there? Come in!"

There was no response. Only static.

"Tallion! Come in!" Obi-wan called again.

Nothing.

"Damn it!" Obi-wan growled, closing the line.

"We have to hope he found a way out." Ayvan urged Obi-wan forward with a palm on his shoulder. "We must go!"

They marveled at the sight in front of them. The _Envoy Star _remained where it had landed a good distance away. The government tower looming beyond was on fire at its lower levels and, from a distance, it appeared Republic forces were still in a fierce firefight. Tan armored troopers held a defensive line at the main entry of the building, with scores of green armored Vorn clone troopers trying to advance amidst the blaster fire.

"We should go and help." Ayvan noted, pulling his single-lens rangefinder from his belt to survey the battle.

"We won't have to. Look!" Nash pointed to the sky.

The group looked up to the blue sky to see the hazy distant forms of two massive Mon Calamari cruisers. A great number of white dots seemed to be swarming out of both Republic cruisers – fighters! Ayvan turned his rangefinder up to the sky to confirm. X-wings, A-wings, and E-wings were racing out of each ship, along with landing craft and support gunships.

"We've got bigger problems though." Obi-wan said in a disheartened voice. "Look!"

Obi-wan pointed to all the destroyed ships between them and the _Envoy Star_. Many were Jedi fighters or shuttles. The _Oberon_ remained where it had crashed – and not far away looked to be the destroyed remains of the _Ward._ Ayvan looked at his ship in disappointment. Jedi weren't supposed to covet things, but he loved his ship.

"Don't worry." Nash noted seeing Ayvan's expression. "I'm sure the Republic can fix it up like new."

A number of clone troopers rushed out into the outside landing field, charging from around the burning and destroyed remains of the fighters and transports around them. Sith drones, five in total, and three Vorn followed, maneuvering in mass to flank the surviving Jedi. Ayvan took note of one of the three Vorn, which looked like ones he had recently beaten. A big lightsaber scar was visible across the chest plate of its decorative armor.

"This isn't good!" Nash drew his blaster pistol again.

Lightsabers ignited. The Jedi, including the Greys, took a defensive posture, ready to fight.

The Vorn forces were about to charge when turbolaser blasts detonated into their ranks. A shrill mechanical scream of thruster engines roared by overhead. The _Khopesh_, dipping low on its strafing run, climbed into a short bank, allowing its underside turbolaser cannon to continue to fire on the clone troopers and Vorn. Two concussion missiles streaked out of the front of the _Khopesh_, exploding into the Vorn forces.

The _Khopesh _descended quickly, lowering its port side ramp to allow the Jedi to rush inside. The dorsal and ventral turbolasers continued to scream at deafening volume, keeping the escaping Jedi, Nash, and Em covered as they boarded the light freighter.

Obi-wan stopped at the top of the ramp next to Nash as those running up the ramp next to them shook the ship slightly with their footfalls.

"It's gonna be tight." Obi-wan noted at all the people rushing to board the _Khopesh_.

Nash waited as Ayvan, the last to board, took one last look back at the burning temple that had been his home.

With Ayvan finally aboard, Nash slapped the nearby com system controls. "We're all in! Let's go!" Nash shouted.

The _Khopesh's _ramp raised to close. The light freighter's repulsors whined as it rotated upward to shoot into the blue sky.

General Hn'rai's red and white trim X-wing was first out of the Mon Calamari cruiser _Crusader_. The wide hangar bay was replaced by a bright clear blue sky as his fighter shot forward, turning swiftly nose down towards the planet surface. Two dozen X-wings and Y-wings followed him out, their designs sleek and well-maintained compared to their centuries-old predecessors. Red and grey X-wings led the squadron with the green and grey Y-wings following.

"Form up, squad." Hn'rai noted into his helmet com. "Lots of enemy activity in the skies. The Bestine City Tower has been hit hard and intel says the Jedi Temple as burning as well."

"What of the Jedi?" a female Twi'Lek lieutenant asked from her X-wing.

"Reports state the Jedi ran." Hn'rai replied. "Our orders are to assist our forces and secure the government center only."

"I can't believe the Jedi ran!" another disgruntled voice added.

"There has to be a good reason." Another Y-wing pilot said.

"Alright, cut the yapping and form up! Enemy squad ahead!" Hn'rai ordered.

The X-wings locked s-foils as the city of Bennit Val grew large ahead of their nosediving fighters. A swarm of black Raptor fighters rocketed up to engage, firing their green turbolaser cannons ahead of them. X-wings and Y-wings scattered, turning to lock into combat with the Vorn starfighters.

Darth Edos stood in the main council chambers of the Ezen Order temple. His dark cloaked form looked down on the dead bodies of the two Vorn that lay there, one being his nephew Zashad – who's head was severed. Edos amber reptilian eyes silently surveyed the chamber. The cloak of the Jedi Master he had slain lay on the floor – the cloak of Drake Ezen. Edos had walked away thinking Drake was dead, but it was apparent he survived and then faded into the force in his passing. Zashad and the other Vorn, Grylen, had been sent to check for survivors or stragglers. Now both were dead.

A dark grey and crimson skinned Vorn walked into the chamber, a subordinate warrior.

"Master," the Vorn warrior spoke in a cautious tone to Edos, "Republic forces have entered the area. Two battlecruisers and a substantial number of fighters."

"What are our casualty numbers?" Edos asked grimly.

"Impossible to know accurately, Master." The subordinate answered. "Early estimates are we lost forty five of three hundred Vorn, sixty percent of our drone fighters, and perhaps seventy percent of our clone troopers."

"The clone troopers and drones are expendable." Edos grumbled. "The Queen Mother will demand my death if we lose any more of her brood." Edos turned away from the scene of the dead Vorn in the chamber to walk out. "We lack the resources to repel the Republic. Signal a withdrawal."

"Yes master." The subordinate Vorn followed his master out of the dark council chambers, leaving the dead again in silence.

A green Y-wing blasted a Vorn Raptor from the sky. The black fighter wheeled in the sky before blasting apart in large fiery sections. The victorious Y-wing nosed up slightly in a banking turn at the outer perimeter of the concentric circles of the city, forming up with two other Y-wings. A red X-wing soared low over one of the city's rivers, chasing a Raptor fighter with a stream of red turbolaser fire. Two of the red bolts clipped the craft, causing part of it to explode before crashing into the waterway. The X-wing rotated on its screaming engines, edging past one of the city towers to fly up into the sky.

General Hn'rai looked out from the side of his X-wing cockpit. The battle seemed to be settling. Enemy fighters were thinning out, allowing him a moment of pause to survey the damage. Com reports were coming in quickly in his helmet speaker – from units on the ground. One Republic soldier's voice noted the word "withdrawal" in a scratchy audio feed. At first Hn'rai thought the Republic troopers were withdrawing but upon peering out of his canopy he saw that it was the enemy units rushing back to their transports.

"They're bugging out." One of Hn'rai's squad said into the com.

"Why?" another asked. "They did all this to run?"

"They got what they wanted done." Hn'rai noted, pulling his fighter up to safer altitude, swinging past the burning Jedi temple. "They hit the Jedi hard. Looks like they killed a lot of them. We show up and they can't hold the ground so they're leaving."

Hn'rai broke from formation to follow a Raptor fighter he saw on his instruments circling back towards the city, probably to cover the Vorn's escape. A second blip appeared on his screen; it's wingman. Hn'rai's own wingman formed up next to him as they raced across the city to intercept.

Below, three clone troop transports lifted off the ground, flying off to escape.

"What do we do, boss? They're running. Do we blast them?" a pilot asked.

Hn'rai, still trying to focus on the two black fighters ahead, found himself in an uncomfortably tough bind. As a Republic Military pilot, he had served until recently in peacetime. The Vorn were a new enemy – yet a very dangerous one!

"Red Seven." Hn'rai decided. "You're in position. Take Red Four and eliminate those troop transports."

Hn'rai turned his fighter sharply upon getting in firing range with the Raptors. The two black fighters split, causing Hn'rai's wingman, Red Two, to break off sharply to chase the other. Turbolaser fire was exchanged. After much scissoring and winding in the sky, Hn'rai managed to get high at an attack angle on the Raptor and blasted it. Red Two wasn't as fortunate as a third Raptor roared in to blast the red X-wing away with green turbolaser fire.

"Red Two is down!"

Up in the sky, Red Four and Red Seven streaked up after the transports. Only one Raptor was able to intervene, which Red Four blasted away after a quick steep bank.

Unopposed, the two red and grey X-wings lined up on the three transports and fired. The red turbolaser blasts blazed into the hulls of the transports, destroying one and damaging the other two badly. Both X-wings circled for another pass.

Below, a few shuttles and transports continued to soar upward; Vorn craft withdrawing from the decimation of the battle below.

The _Khopesh _finally escaped Bestine's atmosphere and flew out into space. Far to the ports side of the YT-2400 loomed the two Republic Mon Calamari cruisers. Several small dots could still be seen swarming around the massive ships; fighters and transports launching to either support the mission below on the surface or combat patrol fighters to protect the ships.

Ayvan Ezen wandered into the cockpit as the _Khopesh_ passed the huge Mon Calamari ships at a distance. Cain looked up from his instruments to turn his head towards Ayvan upon noticing his presence.

"Should we request to land?" Cain asked in his distinct inner core accent. "The Republic can help."

"No." Ayvan noted plainly. "We must make sure our Jedi are safe first."

"The Republic are going to want to talk about this." Nash said, having approached the cockpit from the hallway passage behind. "We should land. Or at least open a channel to them."

"In due time." Ayvan answered Nash before looking back at Cain. "Mister Alistair. I appreciate all you've done for us. Thank you! We don't have a ship to take us where we need to go and…."

"Where do you need me to take you, Jedi?" Cain stopped him respectfully.

"Yavin Four." Ayvan answered.

"The old Rebel base?" Cain smirked.

"Not exactly." Ayvan smirked back. "You'll see when we arrive."

"Very well." Cain turned in his chair back towards the flight controls. Outside the view swung away from the Mon Calamari ships, with the ship turning out into open space.

Ayvan walked with Nash down the hall, nearing a t-shaped junction that led ahead towards the main escape pod and to the ship's lounge at the passage leading right. The round halls were typical of YT freighters of the era, only the _Khopesh _was in like-new condition.

"Ayvan." Nash said his name, more to stop him in stride to listen. "The Republic is going to want to know what happened. You should at least open a channel to them."

"I will contact them in due time. Right now, the safety of my people is my main concern." Ayvan countered.

"Look!" Nash stopped Ayvan with a palm on his chest. "We have a good relationship here, right? We've fought side-by-side. Seen the worst of it together. Yet, every time I try to get you to at least talk to the Republic you push back!"

Ayvan glanced down at Nash's still extended hand, then met his gaze. "A great number of my Jedi died today, including my father. I'll get my people to the rendezvous location, complete Informal Dissolution, and THEN I'll contact the New Republic."

"If you don't at least communicate and tell them what happened, work with them, other voices are going to fill that void." Nash stood his ground. "Rumors and fear will drown out the truth. You NEED to talk to command!"

"I will. Or rather, the head of the Ezen Order will." Ayvan assured him.

"Isn't that you?" Nash asked.

"I'm not the senior Ezen Jedi on this ship." Ayvan noted, walking down the adjoining corridor and into the ship's lounge.

The lounge had a similar design to other YT freighters. A round half-booth with a round holo-table set in front of it was set off to the side. A few thin white framed chairs with rich tan leather padding were set next to it along the wall. A similar lounge sofa set at the back next to the entry to the captain's quarters. The new floors were a deep reflective black like marble, only made of tough metal paneling.

Beings were packed into the space designed for half of them, with the Nalvoy brothers visible in the cargo area beyond, both sitting on a crate. The Nalvoy's emerged from the cargo bay into the lounge upon seeing Ayvan approach. The rest of the Jedi looked up from where they were seated. Lyssa, Myria, and Em sat at the main lounge in front of the holo table. Nyoth Rok stood beside them against the wall. Obi-wan sat in the chair of the engineering station. The Greys, Idris and Karei, sat on the couch near the captain's quarters.

Ayvan Ezen stood before them, clearly preparing to address the group, with Nash standing by his side.

"My father is dead." Ayvan said plainly. "We are on our way to Yavin Four to complete the Informal Dissolution protocol. Informal Dissolution does not mean the Ezen Order is done with. It only means a change of how we are structured. And with my father gone a new Grand Master of the Ezen Order is needed." Ayvan extended his hand in gesturer to his senior. "Master Rok should be Grand Master."

Nyoth stood upright from where he had been leaning on the wall, somewhat in surprise.

"Ayvan." Rok said his name more as a question. "I'm not an Ezen. I'm not sure this is…" Nyoth searched for his words.

"You are a Master on the Council." Ayvan noted. "And you are my superior. The title of Grand Master is not hereditary."

"I'm not certain…." Nyoth seemed uncomfortable, likely at being the center of attention.

"It should be you, Nyoth. Even my father knew this."

Nyoth looked for a while at Ayvan's red within white eyes. With the family resemblance he could almost sense that he was looking at Drake for a moment. After a few moments the white haired Therien nodded.

"Okay." Nyoth finally said in a low tone.

Ayvan couldn't help but allow a broad smile cross his face. Somehow it was bittersweet with the death of his father, yet to have a great Jedi and a long-time friend, who was family in a de facto sense, become Grand Master was heartwarming to see come to pass.

"Grand Master Nyoth Rok." Ayvan formally introduced him.

"May the force be with you." The words passed in a prayer-like tone from all the Jedi in the compartment. The only exceptions were the Ahsoka, who were unfamiliar with the tradition, and Nash, who didn't understand completely what had happened.

Khyrus Janus, who had been manning the _Khopesh's _cannons, appeared from out of the gun well ladder nearby in time to witness the end of the passage of power. The brushed silver mask covering his face hid expression but there seemed to be some level of surprise in his eyes.

"I'm sorry to startle you all." Khyrus noted. "I am Cain's assistant, Khyrus Janus. I was manning the turbolasers."

"You covered our escape pretty well. Thank you, Khyrus!" Ayvan said to the masked humanoid sincerely.

Khyrus nodded in response.

"Forgive me Master," Turk Nalvoy spoke up. "But we're on our way to the rendezvous, but I really think we should address the Greys." Turk gestured to Idris and Karei.

Both Ahsoka Jedi perked up a bit at their mention.

"You don't trust us even now?" Idris grumbled.

Khyrus, realizing what he had heard, turned with a kind of joyful surprise at Idris and Karei. "They're Greys! Children of Ahsoka!" Khyrus said in almost a gleeful singing tone.

"These Ahsoka come out of nowhere. We're on our way to the emergency rendezvous." Turk added. "Security right now should be out utmost concern. How can we trust them?"

"Or the Republic officer for that matter?" his dark-haired twin-brother chimed in.

"Really?" Nash grumbled back at the Nalvoy brothers.

"They risked their lives to help us, Meric!" Ayvan countered.

"As crazy as it might sound, I agree with the young Jedi." Idris added. "We've exposed too much of ourselves. If you feel comfortable dropping us off at the nearest civilized planet, Karei and I can be on our way. We Ahsoka wouldn't want to divulge any of our secrets to any of you either."

"You know too much as it is." Karei added. "We didn't want to reveal ourselves. We've remained hidden for hundreds of years. But we also didn't want to see anyone die. We wanted to help save lives."

"And for that we are eternally grateful." Nyoth nodded at them. "I think given the trust you've engendered in us that we should only extend the same to you."

Ayvan looked over at Nyoth for a moment with barely disguised concern. He then remembered he had just made his friend head of the Ezen only moments earlier.

"We are stronger together." Nyoth added, glancing at Ayvan to assuage his fears. Rok then looked again towards Idris and Karei. "We would welcome you on the journey. Honestly, given our numbers, we would really appreciate the assistance."

Irdis, who had his arms folded over his chest, glanced over at Karei for a moment, as though silently questioning her. She nodded. Idris then looked back at Rok.

"Sure. We'd be glad to come along, Master Rok." Idris noted in reply.

"Thank you." Nyoth smiled back at them.

Turk seemed about ready to argue but he looked at his new Grand Master and fell silently back in line.

"As of Nash Corino, he's a good friend who's risked his life for us again and again." Nyoth looked to the tan uniformed Republic lieutenant. "We're lucky to have him."

"With respect, Master Rok, we should contact the Republic and let them know what happened…" Nash noted in a lower tone, "… from your perspective."

"Yes, of course." Rok noted.

Ayvan looked towards Khyrus. "Does this ship have hyperspace coms capability?"

"It indeed does, Master Ezen." Khyrus replied.

"Is there a quiet place we can contact the Republic from?" Rok asked.

"Nash and I should go with you in the transmission." Ayvan said over Rok's shoulder. "We know more about what led up to this."

"Of course." Rok said in response to Ayvan.

"There's enough room in the workshop and there's a holographic com there." Khyrus stated, gesturing to lead the way.

"Thank you, Khyrus." Ayvan nodded to the masked assistant.

Nyoth Rok followed the offwhite and amber robed Khyrus out of the lounge area, with Ayvan and Nash stepping in line to follow. The four beings left, disappearing around a corner, leaving the Jedi in the lounge to look at each other with varying silent feelings.

General Silas Khord marched angrily down the corridors of the _Crusader_. The Abedendo General, in a standard olive drab and black, hurried past other officers and crew in the clean white and black passages of the ship, eager to get to the bridge.

"Excuse me sir." A silver protocol droid said politely as Khord stormed past.

The wide white-painted blast doors of the bridge slid apart ahead of him, allowing Khord to stride into the spacious white bridge. Workstations manned by standing bridge personnel were set at the left and right of the entry. A pair of navigation stations were set with pilots seated in workstations recessed into the deck. A standard command chair, suspended from a moving armature from the ceiling, rotated with the ship's first officer seated at the station. A broad panoramic view of space wrapped around the bridge, with Bestine and its moons ahead. A pair of A-wings raced past the window on combat patrol as Khord entered the bridge.

"Commander on deck!" the humanoid first officer, Derek Phillipan, stood up from the command station.

"As you were." Khord replied, walking quickly up to his firs officer. "What's the status of the mission?" Khord asked Phillipan in a quieter voice as he stopped a few feet in front of him.

"The Bestine Government Tower is secure. We have forces on the ground maintaining the perimeter." Phillipan answered. "Hostilities have ended. Multiple fires are still active with local firefighting working to get the situation under control."

"And the Jedi?" Khord asked.

"Recon has made a cursory sweep of the temple. All hostile forces have withdrawn with a great many enemy casualties noted on the ground. They're also reporting a great number of Jedi killed."

"How many Jedi dead are we talking about?" Khord asked gravely.

Phillipan looked soberly at his superior. "Quite possibly over a hundred. Captain Grantell says there's bodies everywhere."

"And at the government tower?" Khord aksed.

"Possibly a dozen, and most were from enemy starfighter fire that strafed the building." Phillipan answered.

"The Jedi were the target of this." Khord stated. "The fighting at the government tower was just to keep Republic forces away."

"General Khord. Sir, there's a hyperspace transmission coming in for you." One of the comscan officers noted from her station.

Khord looked over at Phillipan for a moment before replying. "We'll take it in the bridge conference."

"Yes sir." The female officer replied.

Phillipan followed Khord through a sliding door at the back of the bridge, leading into an enclosed conference room with angled white enclosure walls. An oval black table was set at the middle with a dozen black chairs set around it. Computer controls were set into the rounded perimeter of the conference table, which Khord quickly used to activate the holoprojector in the center.

An image of Nyoth Rok flanked by Ayvan Ezen and Nash Corino flickered into view in the middle of the table. Khord and Phillipan remained standing as they looked down on the small humanoid images.

"This is General Khord of the Republic Military." Khord introduced himself. "I'm here with Naval Commander Derek Phillipan."

"General Khord. Commander Phillipan." Rok's image spoke. "I am Nyoth Rok, head of the Ezen Jedi Order. With me are Ayvan Ezen, Jedi Knight, and Republic Lieutenant Nash Corino."

"We are familiar with Corino. Good day, Lieutenant. Good to see you well." Khord noted.

"Thank you, sir." Nash replied respectfully.

"We're on station over Bestine." Khord stated in a loud plain voice. "All hostilities have ended but it appears your temple took a very bad hit."

"It was the Vorn, sir." Rok answered. "A surprise attack. They had taken over the Rykane corvette, the _Envoy Star_, and used it to slip past our security sensors."

"We saw the ship. Heavily damaged with a number of dead inside." Khord added. "I'm sorry."

"We noticed a number of starships fleeing the area. A number of them were possibly your people?" Phillipan aksed.

"Very likely. When the situation became overwhelming we ordered out people to withdraw." Rok answered.

"The situation is under control now. The Vorn have left." Khord replied. "Perhaps you can return and we can discuss this in person."

"Thank you General, but with respect we have to relocate our people out of security concerns." Rok answered. "We are grateful that the Republic is willing to help us, but our presence may only endanger your people. The Vorn are after us and they will attack you to get to us."

"We've gotten that impression, yes." Khord answered. "Still, you know these Vorn aren't going to stop with the Jedi. This is a problem that affects the Republic and the galaxy as a whole."

"We will do our best to fight the Vorn." Rok replied. "But we will have to fight them on our terms. The Republic has already experienced too much collateral damage."

"That is noble of you, Master Rok," Khord stated, "but, to be frank, the Jedi have also been protectors of the Republic. If the Vorn turn on us instead we will be without the Jedi for help. We are better off working together."

Nyoth took a moment to consider his own words silently. "We will do everything we can to defend the Republic. As it stands the Republic is experiencing a fracture. The Agarans. The Vardos. And many of them see the Jedi as a point of divisiveness. The Jedi Orders have maintained a safe distance, if you will, at least visibly from the Republic to prevent these fractures from becoming deeper."

Khord took a breath in though. "We understand the situation well, Master Rok. As a General of the Republic we would certainly be willing to take the risks. The Republic and the Jedi must remain the most adamant of allies."

Nyoth nodded with a slight grin. "We agree. We will remain in contact. For now, I must see to the safety of my people. You understand this?"

"Yes I do, Master Jedi." Khord answered sincerely.

"A representative of our Order will return to Bestine when the time is right. May the force be with you." Rok bowed.

"May the force be with you as well, Master Rok." Khord bowed.

The transmission ended with the Jedi and Nash flickering out of view. Khord glanced up at Phillipan with a look of concern.

"What now sir?" Phillipan asked.

"We continue securing the area below. Then we pray this situation can somehow improve." Khord answered.

The black armored form of Darth Syrik wandered through the remains of the Ezen temple. His eyes looked down from behind the mask of his reflective black helmet upon the body of a fallen Jedi. His gloved hand touched the shoulder of the dead Jedi, as though to try and pull some kind of information from beyond. He stood up and moved on, walking quietly through the destroyed corridors and smoke.

He surveyed the damage, examined other dead Jedi, and reached out to see if there were any other survivors. All of the Ezen had either died or fled. All Syrik could feel were squads of New Republic troops cautiously moving through the structure to survey the damage.

All the Vorn forces had left as well. Syrik wasn't really interested in confronting Republic troops. As a squad neared, he simply waived his hand, obfuscating himself from their minds as a whole with the force. He vanished in the veil of smoke, eventually exiting the temple and returning to his Raptor fighter parked several levels higher on the temple. Inside his fighter, he flew away, continuing on his quest to track Obi-wan and the other survivors.

Lyssa Anota walked quietly through the corridor of the _Khopesh_. After the fierce fight to escape the Ezen Temple adrenaline had given way to fatigue. She stopped first to peer in the open doorway of the small infirmary compartment. The infirmary looked to double for crew quarters, likely for Khyrus, with a single person berth set against the full width of the back wall of the small room. A few storage compartments overhead likely held medical stores. The underside of the compartment contained lights which shined down at half power on the young female lying on the bed; Lyssa's young apprentice Myria Kyle. Myria slept soundly in her Jedi robes. As she had been trained, her lightsaber handle was set on the small table next to her, shut down in a safe mode.

Lyssa picked up the weapon and examined it, admiring its craftsmanship. Myria had clearly constructed it herself, a recent test of passage from her former master. The main part of the handle was a brushed black anodized aluminum. Trim pieces were in a brushed stainless with an overhanging emitter flash cover. Controls were organic in design with a simple activation button, standby power safety lock, and slide selector. It was a sleek yet beautiful design; a small glimpse into the mind of the person who had constructed it. Lyssa quietly set the lightsaber handle back on the table, looking at her new young apprentice. Myria slept soundly, and though she had a shaved head and the garb of an adult Jedi who had seen combat, she still had the face of a child and slept soundly like a child.

Though she didn't know Myria well, Lyssa found herself wishing the young padawan could remain a child a while longer. It was likely that over a hundred Jedi had died that day – and Myria was fortunate to be one of the survivors. Yet she still slept like a child, even with a slight childlike gasp in her breath as she shifted her body in her sleep.

Lyssa slipped away from the door frame and walked on, passing the gun well ladder. Lyssa peered inside to see the Nalvoy brothers asleep as they were strapped into the gunnery chairs. They were told they could sleep in the chairs provided they could man the guns in an emergency. The glowing conduit of hyperspace could be seen past the young Jedi through the gun well canopy glass. Meric was above, audibly snoring, while Turk slept below, arms folded and grumbling in his sleep.

Walking on, Lyssa saw the Ahsoka Jedi, Idris and Kerei, still sitting near one another on the holotable couch. They were both quiet, looking back at Lyssa blankly. Lyssa thought of starting up a conversation with them but decided against it as to not wake anyone up on the ship. Em rested in a couch on the far bulkhead, powered down to standby. Her loyal blue protocol droid too seemed tired.

"Is it true," Lyssa turned towards Karei as she spoke, "that he was once Alyn Rykane's droid."

"Yes." Lyssa said plainly with a nod.

"And his memory hasn't been wiped since then?" Karei added.

"No." Lyssa shook her head, equally plainly.

"Remarkable!" Idris noted with wonder in his eye as he stared at Em. "And how did he become yours?"

"Because we're friends." Lyssa turned a half smile. "He used to be Victoria Skywalker's assistant, but she felt he should be with someone who didn't treat him like property."

"Everyone makes a big deal about Em." Nash noted from where he rested at the engineering station chair.

"He, the droid, was there when Master Rykane came out of hiding." Idris noted. "The creation of the Rykanes and the reestablishment of the Jedi Orders. He's a true witness to history."

"And why didn't your people reveal themselves?" Lyssa asked, still mindful of the volume of her voice and those still sleeping around her.

"Survival." Idris answered. "The Republic nearly wiped out the Jedi three centuries ago. As you already know from history, the Great Mother herself left the Jedi Order prior to the rise of the Empire. And at every turn since there are still threats, from within the Republic and outlying systems."

"Sooner or later, though, you have to come out of hiding and pick a side." Nash said evenly from his swiveling chair.

Idris looked at him questioningly.

"Because eventually the bad people come looking for you." Nash added.

"We did help you." Idris stated.

"And for that we are truly grateful." Lyssa said to Idris before looking to Nash. "Have you seen Ayvan."

Nash gestured with a tilt of his head to his left. "Cargo bay."

"Thanks." She nodded to Nash, then bowed slightly to the Ahsoka Jedi. "Please excuse me."

The Greys nodded in kind as Lyssa left.

She found Ayvan Ezen sitting on a composite plastic cargo container. He seemed deep in thought, perhaps meditating, with his red eyes staring forward into nothingness. The crimson red eyes then turned towards Lyssa, noticing she had entered.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you." Lyssa half smirked at him. "I was just checking up on you."

"You haven't gotten any sleep yet?" Ayvan asked her in a low tone.

"Who can sleep?" she said, moving gently to sit down next to him on the crate.

Lyssa said nothing for a moment, not sure of Ayvan's mood.

"Where's Nyoth?" Ayvan asked.

"Sleeping up near the cockpit in the escape pod." Lyssa answered. "Seems that Cain modified the pod to have fold-down racks. I think he spends a lot of time in this ship. And maybe he's a bit paranoid."

Ayvan smiled with Lyssa at the last statement. "He has a lot of enterprises scattered through the galaxy. It wouldn't surprise me. The design of the ship probably suits him. Straight run only a few meters from the cockpit to the escape pod."

"We're not too far out from Yavin." Lyssa noted, taking a softer tone as she looked over at Ayvan.

Ayvan's head dropped slightly in thought.

"You okay?" she asked.

"It's hard to believe he's gone." Ayvan breathed, raising his head again to look forward into nothing. "He was the head of this order for so long. Now… look at us."

"He was more than that Ayvan. He was your father." Lyssa noted kindly.

Ayvan turned to look her in the eyes directly. "He became one with the force in front of me. In my arms. I never seen that happen ever. I only heard about it in legend. I can't help but wonder if…. he can hear me now… from whatever beyond that exists."

Lyssa acted on emotional impulse, placing her left hand on Ayvan's back while placing her right palm on the upper right side of his chest near his shoulder. She shut her eyes, trying to calm him with the force. Her eyes winced. There was something else there. Pain. Pain and fear. Opening her eyes, she pulled her right hand away.

"I'm sorry." She looked down, somewhat embarrassed.

Ayvan placed his right hand on hers on her lap momentarily. "Don't be."

Lyssa didn't know what to say. Though she had felt Ayvan's internal wounds she also sensed the lingering darkness.

"This fight has taken a lot from us, but we can't let it take who we are. What makes us Jedi." Lyssa stated.

Ayvan said nothing in response. He worried that Lyssa had seen inside of him. That she somehow knew he had tapped into the dark side. He calmed himself, trying to clear the thought from his mind.

"Luke Skywalker thought, at the end, that the Jedi didn't deserve to use the power of the force. That as imperfect beings we could only cause harm and pain." Lyssa continued. "But I never saw it that way. The force is a tool that amplifies who we are as beings."

"There's a hundred or so Jedi that died today." Ayvan noted. "Some of them might feel differently."

"That's a choice each of us makes." Lyssa said. "Being a Jedi means something different to us all, but we unite for a common good."

"What's the common good?" Ayvan wondered aloud with a smirk.

"Protecting the innocent – and saving ourselves." Lyssa answered.

Ayvan took a deep breath and smiled. He again took Lyssa's hand and squeezed it. "Thank you." He said, smiling at her sincerely.

She smiled back. Though she felt wrong violating his sense of privacy she could sense that he did indeed feel better; that whatever darkness was in his heart had faded.

Cain Alistair's form appeared in the doorway to the cargo bay. Wearing a designer crème colored shirt and a sharp black leather jacket, he seemed more like he was ready to cruise around the hillsides of Canto Bight in a drop-top landspeeder.

"We're about to emerge from hyperspace at Yavin Four. You should wake your people." Cain noted.

"Yes, of course." Ayvan replied.

"I'm confused though. The coordinates you gave me. They're not for the Massassi Temple."

"We're not going there." Ayvan explained. "We're meeting up with any survivors at the lake at the coordinates I gave you."

"You just want to land in the middle of nowhere?" Cain asked.

"Yes, please." Ayvan replied. "Trust me. This is all part of our plan."

"Very well." Cain noted brightly. "We should be on the ground in fifteen minutes or so."

"Thank you." Ayvan replied gratefully.

Cain walked away, leaving Ayvan and Lyssa alone again.

"I only know my own role in Informal Dissolution." Lyssa said, standing up as well. "Master Skywalker made us memorize our task but said it's only in the event if OUR order called for it."

"Everyone has a role." Ayvan stated plainly.

"I'd imagine there's more to it than memorizing rendezvous coordinates, isn't there?" Lyssa asked.

"Secrecy is what makes it secure." Ayvan replied.

"But you know more." Lysssa guessed.

Ayvan didn't answer directly. "I know enough. The protocol is to wait at the rendezvous coordinates for a certain amount of time for any survivors, regroup, and go from there."

"So, that's what I know then." Lyssa observed.

"Come on. Let's wake the others." Ayvan noted, leading her out of the cargo compartment.

The _Khopesh_ emerged from hyperspace close to the amber and red glowing mass of Yavin. The light freighter swooped counterclockwise in an orbital curve around the massive gas giant, using its gravity to slingshot towards the blue and green jungle covered fourth moon.

Bright orange light bathed the inside of the _Khopesh's _cockpit as Cain and Khyrus piloted the ship towards Yavin Four. Obi-wan stood in the doorway, his forearm bracing him against the frame, as he looked out of the cockpit canopy ahead towards the gas giant and its fiery glow. It was an incredible view, with Yavin Prime, the system star, glowing on the curved horizon of the massive orange planet.

It took only a few minutes for the _Khopesh_ to swing around the planet and enter the Yavin Four atmosphere. The glowing gas giant behind them faded into the blue haze of the atmosphere, becoming a massive amber crescent in the sky. The _Khopesh_ angled down over the jungle canopy tops, racing on screaming repulsors and roaring thrusters over the landscape. A few moments later the lake appeared ahead. The _Khopesh_ slowed, rotating down to reach the ground with its six landing struts.

Coolant gas vented away from the ship as it settled. The boarding ramp lowered on its robotic arms.

Not long after, Ayvan Ezen and Nyoth Rok led the rest of the Jedi out of the ship. The group, later accompanied by the Ahsoka Jedi, Nash, Cain, and Khyrus, gathered around the edge of the lake to look over its black sparkling surface.

All that remained was to wait.

Darth Syrik stood on the bridge of the Vorn attack frigate, the _Halberd_, staring ahead towards open space. The _Halberd _had an elongated rectangular shape with a bullnose curved section at the fore of the ship containing the bridge. Further back were four similarly rectangular shapes clustered two by two on its midsection; troop transports docked to the vessel. A cluster of eight drum shaped thrusters comprised its main engine array, thrusting it forward in space.

Twelve Vorn Raptor fighters flew with the _Halberd_, acting as its fighter escort. The black bird-like fighters cruised alongside and around the attack frigate, their highly-skilled droid pilots sitting still at the controls.

A Vorn warrior, wearing maroon and black plate armor, walked up to stand beside Syrik. The Vorn, named Akura, stood about a third of a meter taller than Syrik yet stood obediently at his command.

"We are prepared for hyperspace." Akura noted in typical deep Vorn tone of voice.

"Excellent." Syrik noted blankly beneath his helmet, still staring at the stars ahead. "Let's get underway."

The stars in front of the ship pulled away into lines from a center point, glowing brighter until the _Halberd _and the fighters shot into the swirling glowing corridor of hyperspace.

"With all due respect, Lord Syrik, is this a large enough force to handle the remaining Jedi?" Akura asked, staring ahead with his superior into the hyperspace vortex.

"Our intelligence calculated only a few ships escaped Bestine." Syrik replied. "There's also a cruiser on the way to assist us." Syrik turned away to walk slowly towards the back of the ship.

"There will be no escape for the remaining Ezen." Syrik added aloud, pacing calmly away.

Turk Nalvoy stood at the edge of the sparkling Yavin Four lake eating a bag of dried osyx, a kind of dehydrated meat chip. Cain had opened his dry storage to the survivors to make sure all were nourished. Turk's brother Meric sat on a log not far away, eating dehydrated fruit and nut mix. As Turk crunched on the osyx he eyed Idris Reahl. Idris, with his apprentice Karei Nhogatta standing not far away, looked back at Turk calmly.

"You want some osyx?" Turk extended the bag to Idris.

"I'm fine, thanks." Idris replied. "Cain just gave me a nutrient blend."

"I'll try some." Karei replied, walking over to Turk to take some osyx chips from him. She crunched down on a handful. "Delicious!"

"I'm sorry we haven't been able to secure transport for you two yet." Nyoth's voice came from the side of the group as he approached.

"Yavin is out of the way." Idris noted. "Makes sense the old Rebel Alliance used this as a base."

"So, the plan is to wait here for more survivors?" Karei asked Rok.

"We wait as long as we can, yes." Nyoth answered.

"Then what?" Idris asked. "Hide in the forest? The Vorn will certainly come looking for you."

Nyoth didn't answer right away. "We will disperse. And we will find you a ride to whatever system you wish to go to."

"Cain has connections." Meric noted. "Maybe he can help us out."

"We've already asked quite a bit of Mister Alistair." Rok replied. "We'll make our own path, Meric."

Idris smiled broadly at Nyoth, which Rok noticed. "I get the sense that you have a larger plan at work, Grand Master." Idris stated to Rok.

"Possibly." Rok answered with a tilt of his head.

"Perhaps we can help one another." Idris stated.

Turk crunched on another osyx chip while staring at Idris.

"You don't trust me, do you?" Idris asked Turk directly.

Turk finished the chip in his mouth. "I don't know what to make of you." He glanced at Karei. "Her either. I'm grateful you helped us, but we don't know the Ahsoka. And you have hints of the dark side within you."

"We all have that." Karei offered as defense. "The Jedi just hide it better."

"Pretty cynical approach." Meric countered while keeping his gaze out over the lake.

"It's an honest one." Karei responded.

Turk crunched another chip. "Master Rok hasn't told US what the whole plan is. And that's fine by me."

"All will be revealed." Meric offered with a grin, still looking out on the lake. "This is the will of the force."

"You know something I don't?" Turk smacked his brother lightly on the shoulder.

"No. Just sensing possible futures." Meric offered cryptically. "If you could clear your mind and think over those loud chips in your mouth you might be able to see better."

Turk stared down at his brother for a moment, then ate another chip. "You've always been better at that than me anyway."

"Guys, I assure you. There's nothing extraordinary at play." Nyoth told the young Jedi Knight brothers, then looked at Idris and Karei. "We wait here as long as we can. Then we leave. Together." Nyoth noted.

Idris nodded in understanding.

Nyoth turned a half grin at the Ahsoka Knight, then turned to walk away.

Idris watched Nyoth walk off for a moment. "Excuse me." Idris said, moving away as well to walk back towards the _Khopesh_ parked several meters away. Karei eyed her master leave then got up to follow him.

Turk, still crunching on osyx, watched Idris and Karei as they headed back towards the boarding ramp of Cain's ship. The greys walked up the ramp and disappeared inside.

"I don't trust them." Turk noted aloud to his brother.

"It's not every day you discover a new order of Jedi." Meric said from his seated position on the ground.

"Greys aren't Jedi." Turk countered.

"They did risk their lives to help us. And tried to warn us." Meric offered.

Turk kept his gaze towards the _Khopesh_, and ate another osyx chip.

The rainforest around the Yavin lake rendezvous was ordinarily still, with only the typical birds stirring in the jungle canopies and small rengell, a type of small primate, swinging through the tree branches. A light fog remained in the lower valley, where a small stream tributary for the nearby lake flowed. The mist seemed to be slowly fading with the day moving into late morning. A zando lizard about twenty centimeters in length climbed up a thick tree branch, with its thick claws gripping into the tropical branch.

A pair of rushing footsteps interrupted the calm, with a pair of Jedi running through the jungle floor. Lyssa Anota led the way, leaping over a log and then running up a wider fallen tree up to a higher elevation. With Jedi skill and the force, the feat seemed simple. Her new padawan, Myria Kyle, shadowed her, emulating her new master's movements. They ran towards a thick group of trees, who's wide network of roots seemed unpassable. Lyssa launched herself forward, flipping over the root obstacle to land on solid ground that was unseen before the jump. Myria followed in kind, never hesitating in her movements to keep up with Lyssa. The two women accelerated as they neared a tiered waterfall. Lyssa leapt, landing with the treads of her boots on the raised river stone of the stream, leaping from one to the next until she was on the other side. Myria, expertly, followed.

Lyssa finally slowed once near the base of the falls, turning to look at her new apprentice.

"Very well done." Lyssa complimented her. "Master Ebas has taught you well."

"Thank you master." Myria nodded. "Master Ebas was…. quite demanding on training like this. He said mastery of the force when in flight was essential to harnessing it with precision. There was a spot in the Jundland Wastes, where these narrow plateaus in sequence…"

"I know the place." Lyssa smiled back at her. "Master Torbas seemed to delight in having me run that gauntlet."

"I think they all enjoy watching us endure it." Myria smirked.

Lyssa turned her eyes up the waterfall for a moment. Her body acted after, crouching into a jump. Lyssa flew several meters up, aided by the force, jumping from one unlikely foothold up to the next. With a final leap Lyssa was at the top of the waterfall rock face.

Myria acted in kind, leaping up the jagged rock wall with the aid of the force. On the final leap to the top, Lyssa reached out to the side with her right hand. A nearby tree branch snapped off, flying into Lyssa's grasp. Lyssa swung the branch swiftly like a saber at Myria as her apprentice landed next to her. Myria ducked the swing with only the warning of the force. As she stood back up to face her master, Lyssa looked back at her and smiled.

"Very nice, my apprentice!" Lyssa grinned, tossing the branch aside. "I'm not sure Ebas left me much else to teach you."

"Thank you, Master." Lyssa bowed slightly. "Master Ebas was beginning to succumb to his illness recently. I believe Lady Skywalker assigned me to you to learn more of the… diplomacy and intrapersonal skills of being a Jedi."

"Yes, I don't think Master Ebas has travelled much in recent years, has he?" Lyssa asked.

"No." Myria confirmed.

Lyssa looked around at the surrounding thick greenery of the rainforest. She shut her eyes and senses the direction of the _Khopesh_.

"We should head back." Lyssa noted. "We've gone a bit far as it is."

Lyssa began walking through a clearing at the top of the falls, back towards the direction of the others. Myria followed, remaining silent for a short distance.

"There is something that's bothered me, Master." Myria noted as they walked, her tone somewhat hesitant.

"What is it?"

Myria's face twisted slightly for a moment. "At the Ezen temple, just before the attack. There was a male Jedi that approached me in one of the big gardens they have there." Myria took a breath. "He seemed nice. Cute even. We were just talking, and I think he introduced himself. I… I don't even remember his name. Then…." Myria had to force the words out.

Lyssa slowed in stride next to her, sensing her painful emotions.

"One minute I'm talking to him. Then…. One of those black drones. It appeared out of nowhere… and cut off his head with a lightsaber."

Recalling the vision nearly brought tears to Myria's eyes. The padawan took a deep breath, trying to control her feelings. Lyssa placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, which made Myria's tears flow.

"How could anyone do such a horrible thing?!" Myria sobbed. She leaned over, her body heaving as she cried. "I can't get the vision out of my head!"

Lyssa grabbed Myria by her shoulders and hugged her. Myria, at first reluctantly, hugged her back.

"I'm sorry." Lyssa said in a comforting tone. "I really am. These horrible things…. There were so many today." Lyssa maneuvered Myria so that they were looking at each other. "I know it's difficult, and once we're clear of all this," Lyssa gestured to their surroundings, "we'll get through this together."

Myria seemed to calm down a little but was still clearly agitated. "I feel like… I feel like that vision…. What we've been through today…. It's going to affect me in how I function with the force. Like…. It's going to taint everything that I do."

"I don't want to seem condescending." Lyssa said calmly. "I really am sorry for everything you witnessed today. I wish I could erase it. But as terrible as these things are, they become part of what we are. All Jedi have these horrible experiences. It's something we overcome. We learn to… cope with it anyway." Lyssa grasped her gently by the shoulders to look into Myria's eyes again. "We'll get through this. I promise."

Myria calmed again, nodding appreciatively at her new master. "Okay." Myria breathed. "Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me." Lyssa smiled at her, letting go of her shoulders. "This is what I'm here for."

The pair continued to walk on into the jungle, slowly at first then returning to a regular pace.

"And then there's the Ahsoka." Myria added. "All of the Ezen Jedi killed, who knows what happened to the Rykanes on the _Envoy Star_. It's just so much. Is Master Ordos dead? And the whole crew of the _Envoy Star _and all the Jedi with him?"

"I don't know." Lyssa exhaled gravely. "Having the Ahsoka reveal themselves to us is a surprise, but considering the crisis I don't think its suspect having them appear."

"You don't trust them?" Myria asked.

"I trust them, but my instinct tells me to use caution." Lyssa replied. "Not all is as it seems very often. They may be acting out of self-reservation as well, but there may also be other consequences yet to be seen."

Lyssa remained silent in thought for a moment as they walked.

"How is Master Ebas these days? You saw him before you left Tatooine?" Lysa asked, trying to change the subject to something lighter.

"He moved to live with the Rykanes on Naboo a few weeks ago." Myria replied. "The climate there is better for his health."

"That goes without saying."

"I wonder if we'll regroup on Naboo. Did Master Ezen or Master Rok say where we're going?" Myria added.

"I don't know." Lyssa answered. "I trust they have a good plan in place."

A few more paces through a growth of trees opened into an area overlooking the lake where the _Khopesh_ was parked. Lyssa and Myria walked carefully down the sloping jungle terrain to head back towards their temporary camp.

It was the middle of the night. Obi-wan Shai had decided to fall asleep under part of the _Khopesh_, as had a few others, on roll out sleeping bags. Like all of Cain's supplies, the bed rolls were top quality; comfortable and with their own climate control systems built in. Yavin Four was remarkably temperate that evening, but it was a nice touch knowing the climate control was there in case the temperature jumped or dipped suddenly.

Obi-wan looked out from where he was laying on the ground. Though it was night, the faint haze of the gas giant Yavin cast the whole area in a subtle red haze.

The Nalvoy brothers were asleep not too far away, as was Nash. He knew Nyoth and Ayvan were on board the ship, talking to Cain and Khyrus. Lyssa and Myria were a short distance away, sitting around a small fire. Idris, Karei, and Em sat across from them. They seemed to be talking, discussing a story from long ago Obi-wan guessed.

"Obi-wan." A female voice spoke to him faintly in his mind. Obi-wan's blue eyes shot open. He looked around and heard the voice again. "Obi-wan." He could feel the force compelling him in a strange way. There was no threat or panic, just peace and tranquility – but something was clearly calling out to him. He got up from his sleeping bag, walking calmly past Meric and Turk Nalvoy's sleeping forms and on past the campfire. Obi-wan glanced at Lyssa, Myria, then at Karei. The voice he had heard, he knew, belonged to none of the females around the campfire.

"You okay?" Karei asked Obi-wan, seeing him walk lazily along.

"I'm fine." The young Obi-wan replied. He continued walking on, away from the fire.

"You know, there's facilities on the ship if you need to…." Lyssa began.

"I'm fine, Master Anota." Obi-wan grinned back. "I just need to take a walk… to clear my mind."

Lyssa stared at Obi-wan for a moment. He seemed fine and could clearly take care of himself as she had come to learn. "Okay," Lyssa replied, "just don't venture too far. It could be dangerous out there at night."

Obi-wan looked around briefly, then glanced down at the lightsaber hanging from his waist. "I'm okay." He gave her an assuring nod.

Lyssa nodded back, returning to her conversation with Em, her apprentice and the Ahsoka.

Obi-wan faded into the surrounding darkness. Farther away from the ship the sound and light of the crackling fire faded away. The sounds of nature became subtly more apparent. Insects hissed faintly. Tree branches rustled slightly, probably from a small primate moving away high up in the dark canopy. Obi-wan walked calmly through the dark, sensing all around him and knowing he was safe based on what he could feel in the force.

And then he saw what he kind of expected to find. He passed through a group of obscuring trees to see a small body of water; a small connecting pool of the nearby lake.

And the glowing blue-white form of his mother, Laura Shai, in Jedi like garb standing before the water's edge.

"Mother." The soft words drifted from his mouth.

Laura's vision smiled. She remained at the water's edge, awaiting her son.

"Obi-wan." She said in the same voice that had awoke him. The same voice he had heard urging him on at the Ezen temple. "I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you, mother." Obi-wan's eyes held back tears. "I never thought….. I'd see you again."

"This is the way of the force." She said as he neared. "I wish I could hold you, my son. I wish…."

"You told me stories about this… but I never thought I'd experience this myself." Obi-wan spoke sadly.

"Do not be sad, my son. My love for you is eternal, and though I am one with the force I can still appear to you at times like these, as fate allows." Laura's spirit told him.

"Is father here as well? With you?" Obi-wan asked, looking around.

Laura seemed hesitant to answer. "The force is as it will be. Perhaps one day your father might appear before you, but I am here now."

"Mother. Darth Syrik lives. I thought I had… I thought I had defeated him on Clenestine." Obi-wan noted, not really knowing what to say.

"This has never been about vendetta, Obi-wan. I taught you better than that."

"He's coming here. I can feel it." Obi-wan replied.

"I know." Laura confirmed. "You and your friends are in danger, but I am not here to warn you of something you know already."

"I feel as though I was lucky to beat him the first time." Obi-wan admitted. "And he's allied with the Vorn. They seem unstoppable."

"You have seen that they are not." Laura's ghost noted.

Obi-wan shook his head. "It feels like it's only a matter of time. They keep coming, and they seem to never stop."

"We underestimated the Vorn." Laura admitted. "To be honest, like everyone else, we thought they were but myth. When your father and I rejected Marek Tal we thought he would simply return to the comfortable life he was born into. We never thought he would find the Vorn and that they would train him."

"So that's how you and father knew him." Obi-wan observed.

"Marek Tal is my brother, Obi-wan." Laura's spirit explained. "Born of the same father. My half-brother really. I never understood the depths of my father's deception of the Jedi Knights. And he was long dead before we knew of Tal's existence. Marek came to us after we left the Orders. He offered us a better way of existence provided that we train him in the Jedi arts. We refused. He was too old. Too brash and irresponsible. He thought that he could resolve problems through sheer might, something Arik and I certainly didn't agree with. Marek Tal viewed the ability to wield the force as an evolutionary advantage, something given to advanced or enlightened beings so that they might rule others. It's not surprising that he found the Vorn and fit in with their philosophy of the force."

"This is why you trained me so hard? You and father." Obi-wan responded.

"Yes." Laura confirmed. "But I am here because danger remains. You were able to best Syrik not just because of your skill but because of your purity of heart. You are still at an age where you might be tempted to take the easier route, not of the dark side but also like the Ahsoka."

"You knew they existed prior to your deaths?" Obi-wan asked, more as an observation.

"One of them reached out to us after we left the Skywalkers and Rykanes." Laura said. "At least we believed they were an Ahsoka. They hide themselves well. It's their nature. But they know also they cannot always be isolated from the events of the universe. It will be tempting to follow their philosophy, but you must remain a true Jedi. Our code has existed for thousands of generations for a reason. Each division of the force has their own advantages. The Sith and the others who would wield the dark side have theirs. The greys have their advantages, as do the Jedi. The times ahead will be perilous. And there will be lots of change and difficulties ahead – but you must persevere."

Laura, standing before her son, placed her glowing right hand on the side of his face. Obi-wan felt her touch, as he had in life, against his cheek. Even as a spirit her touch felt real.

"I love you so much, my boy." Laura smiled on him. "The force will be with you. Always."

Laura Shai, still touching her son's face, faded away, leaving Obi-wan standing alone next to the water.

"I love you, mother." Obi-wan said, closing his eyes for a moment and taking a deep breath.

Laura Shai's spirit was gone. Obi-wan turned away from the small lake and walked away.

Cain Alistair sat back comfortably in the captain chair of the _Khopesh_. Despite his extreme wealth and all his comfortable estates and apartments scattered throughout the galaxy, the captain's chair of his ship was the place he was most comfortable. The flight deck was much the same as any YT freighter of its kind, only brand new. Cain's chair and the copilot seat, where Khyrus typically sat, were new light tan leather, recently reupholstered a few months earlier – still with a fresh leather scent. All the instrumentation was new, with modern components on the control surfaces. No smacking housing units to get things to work like a lot of spacers were apt to do on an older vessel. The canopy offered a full panoramic view, with glass set in a metal framework allowing a total upward line of sight as well.

Ahead of the cockpit, the morning sun was rising over the lake. Several mountains loomed in the far distance beyond the sea of green jungle. A part of Cain wanted to see the Massassi Temples the Rebel Alliance had once called home. He had seen them many times, of course, and had even contributed to their historical upkeep. Still, they were always a sight to behold. Ancient, seemingly indomitable pyramid towers, standing high over the jungle with the massive red gas giant of Yavin looming in the sky above.

Cain looked at the sensor displays around him, as he had done in habit often since they landed. Outside, he could see some of the Jedi stirring. No others had yet to arrive at the rendezvous. He wondered if this would be all that remained of the Ezen Jedi. Perhaps others, like the padawans in the starfighters, had escaped only to go into hiding, maybe to reunite with their order later at a safer time.

There was a beep on the long-range scanner. Cain had launched a scanner buoy prior to landing on the planet, hopefully allowing them early warning of other ships entering the system. One appeared on the screen, followed by two, then a dozen or so more. Cain turned in his chair to lean in closer to the long-range screen. The big ship was an attack frigate. Twelve smaller ships around them – fighter escort. After a few moments four smaller ships broke off from the large frigate. Landing craft!

Cain got up from his seat and exited the cockpit. He was only a few feet out into the corridor when he ran into Ayvan Ezen.

"New sensor contacts. And I don't think they're friendly." Cain said to the dark-skinned Jedi Knight. "Probably the Vorn. Landing craft, an attack frigate, and a fighter squadron."

"Are you okay with the plan we discussed?" Ayvan aksed.

"Yeah, I'm fine with it, but we better move quickly." Cain urged.

Ayvan looked at the chronometer reading of his wrist com.

"How much time?" Cain asked.

"Not long." Ayvan answered. "But not quicker than I'd like."

"I need your best gunners." Cain noted calmly. "Khyrus is going to have to be in the cockpit with me helping me fly."

Ayvan again raised his wrist com up, keying in an activation command. "Turk. Meric. Get up here. We need you in the _Khopesh's_ turbolaser stations."

"Yes master." The brothers answered quickly in response.

"Let's get going." Ayvan said, bowing to Cain. "May the force be with you."

"May the force be with you as well." Cain replied in kind.

Ayvan ran off, hurrying down the _Khopesh's _ramp and outside to get their plan in motion.

Darth Syrik's troop shuttle advanced over the Yavin lake and across the shoreline camp where the _Khopesh _had recently stood. The white YT transport was gone but Syrik could still feel the presence of the Jedi nearby. The soft wet sand on the shore of the lake still had the impressions of the YT transport. Syrik's shuttle flew on over the canopy jungle of the Yavin moon, turning in a slow bank as the vessel's sensors went to work. Syrik looked over the shoulder of the scanner officer. There were no life signs – but Syrik knew the sensors were wrong. He could sense the Jedi near. Somehow, they had masked their presence.

An alert came from the navigation console. Another freighter, then a Star Destroyer, appeared outside of Yavin Four's atmosphere. Immediately the destroyer and freighter launched fighters and landing craft. Certainly, it was an overwhelming force to round up the Ezen Jedi.

Edos didn't trust him. The idea aggravated Syrik but he did feel more optimistic of routing the Ezen's without difficulty.

"We located them, sir." The scanning officer noted, pointing to two red points on his screen.

"There has to be more." Syrik noted behind his mask. He pointed to several points on the screen. The touchscreen recorded the points with glowing rings. "Land at these locations and offload all troops. Fighter squadrons two and five will offer air cover."

"Yes, my lord." The pilot responded, executing the orders.

Syrik's shuttle floated down on its repulsors, brushing back the green treetop as it lowered into a narrow clearing. Syrik checked his black armor quickly before walking out with the green armored stormtroopers through the lowered front ramp of the ship.

The wind outside the shuttle whipped across the grass and surrounding foliage. Two other transports descended not too far away, with nearly a dozen other landing throughout the surrounding jungle. Troopers and Sith drones alike hurried out.

Small units formed platoons as troopers and drones formed up throughout the jungle. Platoons grew into a battalion. Blaster rifles were at the ready, slung in front of the Vorn stormtroopers in their grasp. Drones walked confidently on their thin black legs, with the grace of any human, yet lacking fear or any other emotion.

Syrik led the troops, over a thousand in number, out into the field opposite the two beings – who waited at the far end. A pair of black Vorn raptors screamed by overhead. They could have easily fired on the two Jedi standing across the field but awaited the order to fire from their master.

It took only a few moments for Syrik and his legion to cross the field to stand about fifty or so meters across from the Jedi.

Nyoth Rok, still in his red and white jacket and brown slacks, and Ayvan Ezen, in brown and crème Jedi robes, waited for Syrik.

"Master Rok." Syrik called out to the senior of the two Jedi.

"Darth Syrik I presume." Rok called back.

"I know there's more than you two out here. We've vanquished most of your Order but I assure you the days are numbered for any survivors."

"Are you talking to offer terms of surrender?" Rok asked loudly.

"There will be no prisoners today." Syrik assured him.

"Why come down here and talk then?" Rok yelled back.

"I wanted you to know the end was at hand for you and your handful of survivors."

"Seems like a waste." Rok shouted back. "You should have killed us from the sky."

Syrik 's masked form stared at Rok and Ayvan for a while before he sensed the true danger.

Over a dozen Jedi Starfighters screamed in from over the horizon, firing their heavy tubrolaser cannons at Syrik and his troops. Syrik, in a panic, ignited his red lightsaber and leapt forward. And instant later, the world around him exploded in a cascade of turbolaser blasts.

The Jedi Starfighters, led by Wequay Jedi Master Endar Chan, flew off and broke in several directions. The Jedi fighters were piloted by the padawans Chan had helped to escape from the Bestine temple. The Jedi fighters paired off, going after the Vorn raptors immediately. The black bird-like fighters themselves were surprised, with two destroyed by the Jedi fighters straight away, followed by a third raptor that was blown away as it tried to climb.

The surviving Vorn clone troopers rushed Ayvan and Rok. The Jedi ignited their green and blue lightsabers to charge the oncoming soldiers.

The other Jedi appeared from the flanks, igniting their sabers as they rushed the clone troopers. Obi-wan, Idris Reahl, and Karei Nhogatta attacked the troopers from the left flank. Lyssa and Myria Kyle took the right flank, with Nash Corino at a part of the clearing off to their left.

Nash held another gift from Cain in his hands – a rotary blaster cannon! Nash leveled the weapon at the clone troopers and squeezed the trigger. The heavy cannon spun, firing staccato blaster rounds into the clone troopers and Sith drones alike. He killed over a dozen troopers and fell three drones, which exploded from the heavy blaster fire, before being forced to cover by returning blaster fire.

The Vorn clone troopers were in chaos, already surrounded by death and fire and explosions when the Jedi reached them. Lyssa and Myria leapt into their ranks, cutting away troopers two or three at a time with broad chops of their humming saber blades. Myria traded a trio of strikes with a Sith drone's red saber, then cut it in half.

The sound of heavy repulse engines grew. The _Khopesh_ lifted off from the ground behind Nash, emerging from a holographic cover of jungle and its own cloaking field. The cloak was how they had hidden the Jedi from Syrik and the Vorn sensors.

The top and bottom turbolaser cannons came alive on the _Khopesh_, blasting into the Vorn troopers, many of which were fleeing for the cover of the surrounding treeline. The Jedi at the gunner stations, the Nalvoy brothers, used their attachment to the force to carefully fire the heavy turbolaser batteries at the opposing forces without hitting their fellow Jedi.

Idris Reahl cut a Sith drone in half with his green saber blade, deflected several blast rifle rounds away, then chopped through two successive clone troopers. He spotted Syrik a few meters away, apparently recovering from a nearby blast. Reahl circled his green lightsaber at his side as he charged.

Syrik caught sight of Idris as his green blade chopped down at him. The black armored Sith deflected the strike away, then angled two other cuts away before swinging back hard at Idris' left side. Idris' inverted parry blocked the blade, then clashed again several more times with Syrik's red lightsaber.

The _Khopesh_ soared into the sky to chase the Vorn raptors. The Jedi fighters had destroyed a number more of the black fighters, but the raptors were overwhelming in numbers. The Nalvoy brothers fired quickly at the Vorn fighters, destroying three more before the enemy fighters brushed them off with green turbolaser blasts.

More Jedi fighters entered the battled in the sky, destroying two Vorn fighters that were chasing a padawan vessel.

"I had a feeling this wouldn't be pretty when we got here." Tallion noted from the cockpit of one of the new Jedi starfigters.

"Glad to see you made it out, Master Vereze." Cain noted.

Tallion and two fellow Jedi fighters formed up behind the _Khopesh. _One fighter in Tallion's group was piloted by a humanoid male Jedi named Khol Tmarind. The other fighter was piloted by a female human padawan named Jallia Sandakar.

"Form up on me for phase two." Cain noted to Tallion and his small group.

"Phase two?" Tallion asked.

"We're taking the fight to them!" Cain answered, veering the _Khopesh_ towards the Vorn attack freighter.

The _Khopesh's_ engines roared as it surged forward at an upward angle in the sky to attack the capital ship.

"Mister Alistair." Tallion noted. "That freighter is heavily armed and there's a Vorn Star Destroyer entering the atmosphere."

"Not to worry, Master Vereze." Cain assured him. "They'll be taken care of in short order. We only need to delay them a bit."

Tallion turned up after the _Khopesh_, as did his two fellow Jedi fighters, joining Cain's charge on the Vorn attack frigate.

Already, heavy turbolaser blasts were fired back at them. Cain's cloaking device and the Jedi pilot's skill allowed them to veer around the heavy oncoming turbolaser fire.

Syrik angled Idris' green saber away, deflected two more strikes, and missed with a downward slice at the Ahsoka Jedi. Idris swept for Syrik's legs, missing as the dark warrior leapt over the green blade. The Sith's red blade angled over his right shoulder to block, missed with a cut for Idris' neck, deflected two more strikes from the Jedi, then cut down through Idris' shoulder.

"NO!" Karei yelled, seeing her master struck down. With her own green blade at her side she rushed Syrik.

Obi-wan's blue blade deflected a pair of strikes from a drone's red saber, cutting it in half and then severing its head with a second swing. He caught sight of Karei rushing Syrik and Idris' lifeless form at the Sith's feet. The young Jedi charged after Syrik himself.

Syrik turned to face Karei as she ran at him. A blast cut her off, sending the female Ahsoka Jedi flying away as a raptor fighter swung away overhead.

Obi-wan was not deterred. He hurled himself through the flames, holding his blue blade high as he flew through the air down at Syrik. Syrik knocked the blue saber aside as Obi-wan landed next to him. Syrik swung back hard, with Obi-wan blocking, throwing his own humming blue blade back at a swing for Syrik's chest. One energized blow after another was exchanged, with neither giving much ground.

Obi-wan's blue blade bound with Syrik's red saber, allowing him to stare across the glowing crackling blades squelching against one another. He could see Syrik's cold eyes behind the dark lenses of his black mask.

"This is about you and me!" Obi-wan glared back at him. "Let's finish this!"

"Foolish boy!" Syrik threw his left hand out, shoving Obi-wan back with the force a few steps.

Obi-wan spun away from a downward arc of the red saber, spun into a swing that was blocked, and traded a chain of charged strikes with Syrik.

A raptor fighter flew down towards Ayvan and Nyoth, who were fighting off clone soldiers back to back. Nyoth looked up and caught sight of the fighter bearing down on him. The black raptor fired. Nyoth arced his blade up in an upward swing, deflecting the full brunt of one of the turbolaser bolts back up at the fighter. The explosive deflection threw Nyoth back, but he was able to backflip to land on his feet.

The bolt he deflected flew back up through the raptor's cockpit, killing the pilot. The damaged fighter wavered as it continued to fly down at Nyoth and Ayvan. Nyoth raised his left hand and reached out with the force, tossing the plummeting raptor fighter away to crash into a fireball into the nearby jungle.

Ayvan deflected a blaster rifle bolt back into a clone trooper, then exchanged a group of strikes with a Sith drone. He turned the drone's red blade away, cutting off its weapon hand, then its arm, then through its body to finish it.

An alert flashed on Ayvan's wrist com. He immediately looked up in the sky towards the Vorn Star Destroyer, which was getting closer in the sky above.

A new arrowhead shaped destroyer appeared in the sky behind the Vorn capital ship. It was an old and familiar form, with the shape of an elongated star-shaped sword.

Syrik's blade clashed back at Obi-wan's, shoving him back in another swing to look up at the sky where the new ship had arrived.

"No." Syrik breathed at the sight of the ship. He knew what it was immediately.

The new vessel was a Venator Class Star Destroyer.

A pair of powerful laser cannons beneath the Venator targeted the Vorn destroyer and opened fire. A pair of white beams cut out from the Venator, slicing across the top of the Vorn destroyer in sustained streams of energy. Another pair of sustained bursts cut again through the Vorn ship, causing a devastating sequence of eruptions through the Vorn destroyer's body.

The explosions ripped the Vorn destroyer apart, detonating it in one final blast in a flower of burning debris falling throughout Yavin Four's atmosphere.

"NO!" Syrik yelled again. Rage consumed him as he realized what had happened.

The Ezen had set a trap.

Syrik renewed his ferocious attack on Obi-wan. The young Jedi's blue blade expertly angled away each strike, had his own blade blocked high to Syrik's upper left, then upper right, clashed again several times. Syrik chopped down hard with his angry red blade at Obi-wan's right shoulder only to have his blue blade stop the saber. Obi-wan held the blade sternly over his right arm and looked back on Syrik's masked face.

Obi-wan released Syrik's blade, stopped a high chop from the red blade, then, in a flash, sliced his blue blade up into Syrik's helmet. The black and red trim helmet flew free as Syrik stumbled back.

Obi-wan paused, holding his blade at his right side, as he looked upon Syrik's exposed face. Gone was Syrik's blonde hair. He was bald, with grey skin. The features of his shocked face looked incomplete. He had the imperfections of a clone.

Syrik, his face exposed, yelled as he circled his red blade at his right. He charged Obi-wan

"I'm sorry uncle." Obi-wan said to him sincerely.

Syrik took another cut for Obi-wan's head. Obi-wan's blue blade knocked the red saber up, then flew around in a spinning arc to cut down through the back of Syrik's neck.

Obi-wan remained still at the end of the killing blow, opting not to watch as Darth Syrik's head fell away from his tumbling body. He took a quick glance over his shoulder to verify Syrik was finished, then walked away, holding his humming blue blade at his side.

Akura stood on the bridge of the _Halberd_ looking out at the Jedi fighters rushing him from directly ahead. Their turbolaser fire blasted off his shields, with several blasts exploding off the invisible deflectors. Raptors flew in, scattering the Jedi fighters off.

In his tactical screen he could see the remains of the Vorn Star Destroyer the Venator had destroyed.

"Master." One of the bridge hands called out. "Our units on the ground are reporting substantial casualties. And there is work Lord Syrik is dead."

Akura hesitated to make the call. He knew Edos would be furious.

"Signal retreat."

Outside, before the _Halberd _could turn away, the _Khopesh _and Tallion's group of fighters broke past the remaining raptor fighters. They formed up again towards the Vorn attack freighter. A separate Jedi fighter flew in from the right, strafing the top of the _Halberd_. Then another Jedi fighter took several shots at the engines. The _Khopesh _launched six concussion missiles at the craft. Tallion's starfighter and the two with him released proton torpedoes.

The weapons hammered away the _Halberd's_ remaining shields and then detonated over its topside hull. A Jedi starfighter swooped over the bow, rolled into position to evade turbolaser fire, and shot two torpedoes at the bridge. The torpedoes ripped the bridge apart.

The Jedi fighters and Cain's YT freighter soared away as the Vorn attack freighter succumbed to its wounds, ripping apart in a massive fireball.

The battle on the ground was slowing. Scores of clone troopers and destroyed Sith drones lay on the ground. Fires from strafing runs burned in shallow craters everywhere. Smoke floated swiftly across the jungle as the wind picked up slightly.

The only Jedi casualty lay on the ground cradled in his apprentice's arms. Idris Reahl was dead. Karei draped both of her arms over his back, rocking him as she sobbed.

Lyssa, Myria, and Obi-wan stood a short distance away, obscured partially in the haze. They watched, sadly, as Karei lamented her dead master in tears.

"En shai edal nadeth." She cried over him, repeating the phrase softly again as she buried her face in his shoulder.

Obi-wan recognized the language – Togruta. 'To mother's arms return.' Shai. Mother. Obi-wan couldn't help but guess there was a connection to his last name.

A few enemy transports managed to leave, likely enemy troopers escaping. Obi-wan looked up and saw three leave. They were allowed to fly off.

The battle seemed over.

Ayvan Ezen approached the group from behind. Confident that they were somewhat safe, he looked around one more time before shutting down his green blade. Nyoth Rok followed.

They all stopped at the sight of Karei holding Idris' body.

"I'm sorry for your master, Karei." Nyoth offered solemnly.

"He's at peace." She looked up at them. "He's in the arms of our mother now."

Rok stared at Karei for a moment, paralyzed in silence. While it was a tragic moment, the realization that one of the rumors being true was also fascinating. Ahsoka Tano never had children of her own. Legend was all the Jedi of the Lost Order considered her as their mother.

Rok extended his hand to Karei, a silent offer to help her up.

"We'll take care of him." He said to her softly. "We must depart."

Karei looked up at Rok for a moment, then down again at her master's body. She nodded, setting Idris' body gently aside. She reached up and took Nyoth's hand and, with his help, stood up.

Ayvan raised his wrist com to his mouth. "Cain. We're ready to depart. _Phoenix_. Maintain defensive status and prepare for our arrival."

Nyoth led Karei away slowly. Obi-wan walked over to Ayvan.

"The Venator is on our side?" Obi-wan asked him with deep curiosity.

"The Vorn aren't the only ones who happened to be repurposing old technology." Ayvan noted. "The Ezen found the _Phoenix_ adrift in the Anoat System, a dead relic of the Clone Wars. We set construction droids on it to completely restore it. Took decades. It was our safeguard, part of our Informal Dissolution Protocol, the most secret part only a few knew about."

"Did you know?" Obi-wan asked him.

"Not completely. Only a few bits of information here and there. I never suspected a fully restored Venator." Ayvan admitted. "It wasn't until Nyoth assumed control of the Order that he informed me of everything I was unaware of."

"Who's up there?" Nash's voice asked, having heard part of their conversation.

"Droids only and perhaps one or two Ezen who were assigned to bring the ship here." Ayvan explained.

The sound of the _Khopesh's _repulsorlifts and main engines grew quickly. The YT transport slowed overhead and rotated slightly as it descended. The landing gear of the YT-2400 touched down on the grassy field, allowing its boarding ramp to descend.

Lyssa, Obi-wan, and Ayvan each reached out to Idris' remains and raised him from the ground with the force. The body of the Jedi Master levitated towards them, drifting as they walked towards the _Khopesh_ to depart.

Darth Edos sat in the executive passenger compartment of his command shuttle. It was an area at the back of the passenger compartment, closed off from the rest of the ship, with only four chairs set two by two in a slight angle to one another. Edos was the lone passenger. The lights were dim, allowing him to meditate and reach out with the force to try and find insight.

News had come from Yavin Four – and it had not been good. Edos decided to go see for himself what had happened.

The Vorn shuttle descended over the rainforests of Yavin Four, turning towards a region where there was still rising tendrils of smoke. Sensors showed there were no lifeforms, and the Vorn had been sure to check across multiple spectrums to be sure there weren't any cloaked vessels nearby. The few survivors of Syrik's task force had noted the strategy the Ezen had used to take them by surprise.

A few moments later, the Vorn shuttle descended to land, lowering its forward ramp. Darth Edos, in his flowing black cloak, emerged like a phantom from the shuttle, walking down in calm steps on his black clawed feet. He walked a few steps out of the shuttle with clone troopers and two other Vorn warriors flanking him. His serpent like amber eyes surveyed the remains of the battlefield.

Thousands of clone troopers in their green armor lay dead for as far as the eye can see, with black Sith drone parts scattered among the bodies. A severed green armored arm. A helmet cut in half. A trooper impaled through the chest with a burned saber wound. A pile of five dead clone troopers, fallen in a semi-circle. A head of a Sith drone, with its broad black rimmed helmet, stared blankly over the rest of its severed body parts.

All were quiet. Edos could feel there were no survivors. The Vorn Sith Lord walked out among the piles of dead, surveying the various way his soldiers had died.

And then he came upon the remains of Darth Syrik. His body had collapsed onto his right shoulder. His bald head, not far away. Edos walked closer to his former apprentice to look down at his corpse.

Edos shook his head slightly. Such a waste. Creating a clone of Merek Tal was no simple accomplishment. Edos turned to one of his subordinate Vorn, pointing to Syrik's corpse. "Get a containment unit for him and load his remains onto the shuttle."

"Yes my lord." The Vorn moved off to comply with his orders.

Edos continued to casually walk over the bodies of the dead. The clones were a bad loss, to be sure, but if he could bide his time he could manufacture more. The Sith drone remains would be collected from the battlefield and possibly reused. There were new models and improvements to be made. The crusade wasn't over – not for the Vorn.

He sensed her presence nearby. Edos looked to the second Vorn warrior that had accompanied him. "Leave me. Help the others."

"My lord, it may not be safe here." The Vorn warrior protested.

"Leave me. I will be fine." Edos noted back.

The Vorn warrior moved away, helping the other with the containment tube hovering in from the shuttle. Edos then looked ahead and stared into the mist and nothingness.

"You've come to gloat?" Edos asked flatly.

"You're not the only one with this skill." Victoria Skywalker said, her robed form appearing ahead of Edos in the mist.

"This is only a minor impedance. We've killed most of the Ezen. And soon we will come for you and the Rykane." Edos noted in a grave baritone voice.

"It's unfortunate that it's come to this." Victoria replied. "But then this is probably the only path there was. You wish to see all Jedi dead and anyone who can wield the force under your rule. That leaves few options."

"You claim a moral high ground, Jedi, but take a look around. There isn't much difference between us is there?"

Victoria scanned the dead around her. "We all have choices." Victoria said blankly. "You've made yours."

Edos' black goblin-like head turned towards Victoria, giving her a cold malicious glare.

"I will personally put a lightsaber through your heart, old woman." Edos sneered. "We will slay every Jedi and your flawed philosophy will die with you."

Victoria stared at Edos for a while. Her stare was blank for the most part until she offered an odd smile just before she spoke. "I don't know what may become of me, Edos. Maybe I survive. Maybe I don't. I'm an old woman and lived a full life. But you attacked my children. And my children will not be pushed to near extinction again."

"You would have to kill every Vorn to stop us. Do you have it in you to do that and abide by your moral code?" Edos grumbled.

Victoria again paused before answering. "I wish we didn't have to consider that option. It's not to late to come to a peaceful resolution, but we will simply not roll over and die."

Edos paced a few steps around Victoria's form. Her vision was as real as if she had truly been standing before him.

"This is far from over, Lady Skywalker." Edos said to her coldly.

"I don't expect it is." She said, pursing her lips slightly.

Victoria faded from sight, returning her focus to where she truly was – in her living quarters on the hot dusty planet of Tatooine.

Edos, standing on the fields of the dead on Yavin Four, turned away from the spot that Victoria Skywalker's projection had been. Wrapped in his dark black robes he walked back towards his shuttle.

The containment unit wit Syrik's remains were loaded on the shuttle. Edos followed up the ramp.

A few moments later the Vorn shuttle was lifting off into the sky, bolting away in a surge of speed out of the atmosphere of the Yavin Four moon.

Obi-wan Shai sat cross-legged on the deck of the _Phoenix_. He was in one of the empty side bays of the hangar area. He remained in the tattered clothes he had fought in. There was a rip at his right white shoulder sleeve. His blue tunic had a lightsaber burn at his side from a wound he had barely deflected. His brown slacks, like his shirt, were spotted in dirt. Obi-wan's eyes were closed. His mind – at peace. He reached into himself and out through the force to find calm.

His lightsaber rested on the cold grey deck before him.

Syrik was dead, or at least what he believed was Syrik's clone. Obi-wan could sense the path of his destiny veering away. In the painful beginning on Umaru, Syrik had killed his mother and father before his eyes. Obi-wan, with no one left and no path to follow, chose to try and find Syrik, to not only confront him but to find out why the Sith had wanted him and his parents dead. He had gotten his answers. And he had confronted Syrik; twice! Somehow after the first encounter he knew Syrik had survived. But the end of their second encounter was different. And somehow, he could still feel Syrik's presence. Or was it something else?

Karei Nhogatta appeared from the side of Obi-wan's field of vision as he opened his eyes. She too appeared in the same garb she had fought in on Yavin Four. Less than a day had passed. While the _Phoenix _was safely away from the gas giant planet and its habitable moon, not much time had been found for them to personally recover, nor to clean up.

Obi-wan stood up from where he had been sitting, collecting his lightsaber as he got up to place it on his belt. He walked out of the isolated bay to follow Karei, out towards the central launch corridor of the Venator's giant hangar. Karei, Obi-wan could see, was walking towards Ayvan, Nyoth, and Alistair, who were waiting in another bay next to a transport shuttle.

Across the corridor in three other bays were the Jedi starfighters that had come to their rescue on Yavin Four. Tallion, a few of the Ezen padawans, and the Wequay Jedi Endar Chan worked on the starfighters, getting started on needed repairs after the battle. A few R9 astromechs hurried around to help them.

Obi-wan approached the group. The Ezen Jedi appeared to be saying goodbye to Karei.

"Idris has been loaded into the cargo compartment of the ship." Nyoth noted in a low tone. "The ship is yours to do with as you will."

"Thank you Master Ezen." Karei replied.

Over Obi-wan's shoulder he saw the _Khopesh_ parked in a larger bay. Turk Nalvoy examined the YT-2400's underside to help Khyrus identify damage.

"I'm not sure if this will facilitate more cooperation between us and the Ahsoka." Rok added.

"With respect, Master Rok, this fight and the loss of Idris may push the Ahsoka the other way." Karei replied. "The Ahsoka have stayed out of these conflicts since the days of the Old Republic."

"With notable exceptions." Ayvan stated.

"There isn't another Ezra Bridger." Karei stated. "And while Anakin Skywalker was our founder's former master, the Ahsoka has strived to stay out of these family conflicts."

"Even in the face of unspeakable evil like the First Order? Or the Vorn?" Alistair added.

"Kylo Ren was a Skywalker." Karei replied. "But the Vorn is a different adversary. Perhaps it's time for the Ahsoka to come home. I am certainly not able to speak for my Order… but I will try to convince those who can."

"We all do what we must." Nyoth Rok spoke graciously. "But we would certainly appreciate the help. And this conflict, I fear, will be one no one can stand away from."

Karei thought for a moment before nodding. "I feel you are right, Master Rok. Thank you all again." Karei bowed to the group.

"May the force be with you." Rok said, bowing in kind with Ayvan, Obi-wan, and Alistair.

"May the force be with you as well." Karei nodded, turning away to walk up the rear ramp of the transport.

Within a few moments, the shuttle retracted its rear ramp, sealed the boarding hatch, and lifted off the deck. A warning alarm echoed in the cavernous main launch corridor. The interior force fields of the overhead enclosure activated before the thick outer doors parted. The Jedi and Alistair Cain watched as Karei's shuttle hovered upward. The transport flew out of the forcefield enclosure and accelerated away to vanish into the stars.

"I'll see you on the bridge." Rok noted to Ayvan in an aside before looking at Obi-wan to nod at him.

Rok and Alistair walked away towards the hangar exit doors.

Obi-wan looked around the massive hangar bay. During the Clone Wars, the Venator Star Destroyer had been the backbone of the Republic fleet. The hangar bays arrayed around them would have been filled with hundreds of starfigthers, attack ships, and transport shuttles during it's prime.

"Pretty impressive ship." Obi-wan noted to Ayvan as they stood in the launch corridor, the overhead doors beginning to rumble closed. "I can't believe you kept this secret."

"We were fortunate to have found the _Phoenix._" Ayvan replied. "A warship of a bygone era. Hopefully she can serve not only as a means of defense but as a home."

Obi-wan placed his right hand on Ayvan's shoulder. "I'm sorry about your father." He offered sincerely.

Ayvan patted Obi-wan's shoulder back. "Thank you. It's so hard to imagine he's gone. It'll probably hit me more when this all settles down."

"If you ever need someone to talk to…" Obi-wan offered.

"Thanks." Ayvan nodded appreciatively.

"What happens next?" Obi-wan asked, turning his head to look at the pockets of activity in the otherwise massive and empty hangar bay.

"We do what we can." Ayvan answered. "To protect ourselves… and keep this from happening to anyone else. The Vorn are ruthless. We have to stop them."

"I think with Prince Dakar, The Syndicate, and others fragmenting in the galaxy that it's going to be harder than we imagine."

Ayvan walked away from the main launch corridor with Obi-wan.

"I think you're right." Ayvan replied.

The _Phoenix_, a Venator Class Star Destroyer with its red and white Old Republic era markings, turned towards the cosmos and shot forward into hyperspace.

General Silas Khord: 50 something. Abednedo male Republic officer. Commander of the Crusader Mon Cal ship.

Derek Phillipan. 43. Humanoid first officer of the Crusader.

Turk and Meric Nalvoy: 24. Jedi brothers who survive the attack on the Ezens. Both blue sabers.


End file.
